A    Comparative    Study   of  the    Play 

Activities    of  Adult   Savages 

and  Civilized  Children 


An    Investigation   of  the   Scientific 
|_g  Basis  of  Education 

1137 
.A7 


0  ^gl  By  L.  ESTELLE  APPLETON,  PH.D. 

0  ==5        Head  of  the  Department  of  Education  and  Suptrintendent  of  the  Normal  Training  School 
U  ^^^i  Marshall  College,  Huntington,  fVest  Virginia 


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THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO  PRESS 

1910 


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A   Comparative   Study  of  the    Play  ' 
Activities    of  Adult   Savages 
and  Civilized  Children 


An    Investigation   of  the   Scientific 
Basis  of  Education 


By  L.  ESTELLE  APPLETON,  PH.D. 

Htad  of  the  Department  of  Education  and  Superintendent  of  the  Normal  Training  School 
Marshall  College,  Huntington,  Wtit  Virginia 


CHICAGO 

THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO  PRESS 

1910 


Copyright  1910  By 
The  University  of  Chicago 


Published  June,  19 10 


Composed  and  Printed  By 

The  University  of  Chicago  Press 

Chicago,  Illmois,  U.S.A, 


PREFACE 

Whoever  has  listened  at  educational  gatherings  to  interminable  dis- 
cussions as  to  whether  high-school  courses  should  consist  of  four  years' 
work  or  six;  whether  colleges  should  regulate  the  work  of  secondary  schools, 
or  secondary  schools  condition  the  work  of  colleges;  whether  promotions 
should  be  made  once  a  year,  or  twice,  or  four  times;  where,  in  the  curricu- 
lum, languages  should  be  introduced;  how  much  time  should  be  given 
to  purely  "cultural  studies,"  to  manual  training,  and  to  arts;  whether 
sciences  should  supersede  the  "disciplinary"  studies,  and  so  forth,  and  so 
forth,  ad  infinitum — whoever,  we  say,  has  listened  to  these  endless  disputa- 
tions beginning  nowhere  and  ending  where  they  began,  can  hardly  have 
failed  to  exclaim,  "There  must  be  some  basis  for  the  decision  of  all  these 
points,  which  has  never  yet  been  reached,  some  ultimate  controlling  prin- 
ciple, to  which  all  minor  questions  of  form  and  content,  of  quantity  and 
distribution,  must  be  referred!"  That  such  a  principle  is  brought  into 
clear  and  complete  definition  by  the  study  here  undertaken  is  not  claimed 
by  the  author;  but  it  is  believed  that  it  makes  some  real  advance  toward  the 
discovery  of  such  a  principle. 

If  the  comparison  of  phylogenetic  and  ontogenetic  play  activities  has 
taught  us  anything,  it  is  that  physical  and  mental  life  are  so  closely  cor- 
related that  the  type  of  the  one  cannot  be  dissociated  from  the  tj^e  of  the 
other  in  any  individiml.  Hence  any  art  of  instruction,  to  be  adequate  to 
the  situation,  must  likewise  change  in  type  from  individual  to  individual, 
as  well  as  from  age  to  age.  This  statement  of  the  principle,  as  a  mere 
statement,  is,  perhaps,  not  startlingly  original;  but  it  would  be  startling 
indeed  to  find  a  school  curriculum  conforming  to  it. 

The  difficulty  in  the  way  of  such  detailed  adaptation  is  not  so  much  in 
the  failure  of  educators  to  comprehend  the  need,  as  in  ignorance  of  how  to 
meet  the  situation.  Recognizing  the  inadequacy  of  past  methods  of  instruc- 
tion, they  have  added  subject  after  subject  to  the  school  curriculum,  in  the 
vain  hope  that  each  new  addition  would  overcome  the  deficiencies  of  the 
past.  The  analysis  of  play  activities  into  their  elements,  however,  and  a 
determination  of  what  elements  predominate  at  different  ages  suggest  the 
hypothesis  that  adaptation  of  the  curriculum  to  actual  growth  conditions 
consists,  not  so  much  in  introducing  new  subjects  or  eliminating  old  ones, 
as  in  analyzing  each  lesson,  in  whatever  book  or  subject  it  may  chance  to 


4  7X754 


IV  PREFACE 

be,  into  its  psychological  elements  and  in  emphasizing  just  those  particular 
elements  which  call  forth  from  the  particular  individual  the  strongest 
response  at  his  particular  period  of  development. 

We  regret  that  the  original  charts  in  which  the  various  plays  and  games 
are  analyzed  in  order  to  find  wherein  the  attraction  lies  are  not  published 
with  the  manuscript,  but  it  is  believed  that  to  the  ordinary  reader  conclusions 
only  will  be  of  interest  rather  than  a  multiplication  of  minute  analytical 
details.  The  different  rubrics  have,  therefore,  been  merely  named,  and 
typical  illustrations  are  given  together  with  deductions,  the  charts  them- 
selves being  reserved  for  a  more  comprehensive  work. 

The  author  is  greatly  indebted  to  Dr.  G.  Stanley  Hall,  of  Clark  Uni- 
versity, and  to  Professor  L.  T.  Hobhouse  and  Dr.  Alfred  Haddon,  of  Lon- 
don University,  for  encouragement  to  go  forward  and  complete  a  study 
undertaken  and  continued  in  the  face  of  many  discouragements.  Except 
for  the  generous  appreciation  of  the  persons  above  named,  and  the  much- 
prized  opportunity  for  study,  afforded,  during  the  past  year,  by  a  Senior 
Fellowship  in  Clark  University,  the  following  study  would  probably  not 
have  been  published. 

Sincerest  thanks  are  also  hereby  extended  to  Dr.  G.  A.  Dorsey,  curator 
of  the  Field  Columbian  Museum  in  Chicago,  for  assistance  in  anthropologi- 
cal research;  also  to  Dr.  C.  H.  Judd,  of  the  University  of  Chicago,  for 
reading  the  proof  and  otherwise  greatly  assisting 

The  Author 
Marshall  College 

HtTNTINGTON,    W.Va. 

January  i,  1910 


CONTENTS 

PADS 

I.  Introduction i 

1 .  Relation  of  Present  Study  to  Pedagogy  and  to  Genetic  Psychology 

2.  Method  of  Investigation 

3.  Selection  of  Tribes  to  Be  Studied 

II.  Analysis  of  Plays  of  Savages 8 

Five  Tribes — Veddahs,  Australians,  Bushmen,  Yahgans, 
Eskimos 

III.  Analysis  of  Plays  of  Civilized  Children       ....      42 

Five  groups — New  York,  Brooklyn,  Washington,  South 
Carolina,  Worcester' 

IV.  General  Comparison  of  the  Two  Fivefold  Groups,  with 
Respect  to  Play  Characteristics 50 

V.  Study  of  Children's  Play  by  Periods 55 

1.  First  Period — Years  One  to  Three 

2.  Second  Period — Years  Three  to  Seven 

3.  Third  Period — Years  Seven  to  Twelve 

4.  Fourth  Period — Years  Twelve  to  Seventeen 

5.  Fifth  Period — Years  Seventeen  to  Twenty-three 

VI.  Comparison  of  Savage  Play  with  Successive  Periods  of 

Children's  Play 70 

1.  With  Respect  to  Somatic  Characteristics 

2.  With  Respect  to  Types  of  Organization 

3.  With  Respect  to  Psychological  Characteristics 

VII.  Conclusions 74 

1 .  With  Respect  to  Phylogenetic  and  Ontogenetic  Parallelism 

2.  With  Respect  to  Genesis  of  Play  Activities 
A  Biological  Theory  of  Play 

3.  With  Respect  to  Pedagogical  Applications 

VIII.  Bibliography 85 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/comparativestudyOOapp.liala 


"In  view  of  the  facts  herein  presented,  we  conclude,  then,  that  although  a 
similarity  certainly  exists  between  the  play  of  the  child  race  and  the  child 
individual,  especially  with  respect  to  somatic  characteristics,  yet  a  process 
of  differentiation  has  been  going  on  throughout  the  cultural  period  which  has 
profoundly  modified,  not  only  the  final  product,  i.e.,  the  product  found  in 
civilization,  but  also  all  the  intervening  stages.  It  is  our  belief  that  this 
differentiation  is  shown  to  a  slight  extent  in  the  physical  organism  itself,  so 
that  the  physical  body  of  the  highest  type  found  in  civilization  is  somewhat 
more  sensitive  to  stimulation  than  is  the  body  of  the  highest  type  of  savage. 
This  opinion  is  not  based,  however,  entirely  upon  the  study  of  play,  but 
partly  upon  a  supplementary  study  on  "Somatic  Characteristics."  The  chief 
difference  appears,  however,  in  the  intellectual  aspect  of  their  amusements, 
and  is  a  difference  not  of  kind  but  of  proportions,  or,  as  we  may  say,  of  emphasis. 
....  But  this  difference  of  proportions  is  not  acquired  in  any  given  indi- 
vidual by  living  the  life  of  a  savage  until  the  limit  of  his  development  is 
reached,  then  adding  to  that  product  something  more,  which  extends  develop- 
ment in  ontogenesis  to  the  point  reached  in  civilization.  The  differentiation 
in  parallelism  is  much  more  fundamental,  reaching  back  to  the  beginnings 
of  psychical  life,  and  probably  far  back  into  the  physical  organism  itself." — 
P.  74- 


INTRODUCTION 

References  (superior  figures)  throughout  the  text  are  to  works  in  the  Bibliography 
at  the  end,  where  cross-references  are  given. 

The  following  paper  is  submitted  as  a  contribuion  to  pedagogy  and  also 
to  genetic  psychology.  Its  bearing  upon  pedagogy  will  be  immediately  ap- 
parent from  its  relation  to  the  "culture-epoch  theory" — the 
Relation  to  theory  that  the  child  recapitulates  the  psychical  as  well  as  the 
and  rpnptic  Physical  evolution  of  his  race,  and  hence  that  his  mental 
Psycholoffv  growth  is  best  promoted  by  assimilation  of  the  cultural 
products  belonging  to  that  stage  of  race  development,  which 
corresponds  to  his  own  [See  page  75.]  Its  bearing  upon  genetic  psychology 
is  twofold  and  may  need,  perhaps,  to  be  more  clearly  defined  at  the  outset. 

Professor  Baldwin  has  already  pointed  out-*  that,  through  the  invasion 
into  psychology  of  the  theory  of  evolution,  we  are  no  longer  satisfied  with  a 
mere  description  of  forms  of  thought  characteristic  of  adult  minds  only, 
but  we  now  demand  a,  functional  psychology,  a  knowledge  of  the  processes 
and  evolutionary  changes  by  which  the  dim  consciousness  of  infancy 
transforms  into  the  intellectual  strength  of  maturity.  In  physiological 
science  we  include  the  whole  series  of  changes  in  development,  from  birth 
to  somatic  death,  under  the  term  "life  history."  In  psychological  science 
we  comprehend  the  whole  series  of  transformations  in  mental  development, 
from  birth  to  somatic  death,  under  the  term  genetic  psychology. 

At  least,  this  is  the  usual  meaning  of  the  term,  its  ontogenetic  meaning, 
but  it  might  with  equal  aptness  be  applied  in  its  phylogenetic  sense,  that  is, 
to  the  development  of  mind  in  toto,  including  the  whole  series  of  evolutionary 
changes,  if  there  be  such  changes,  from  the  first  premonitions  of  animal 
mind  and  the  lowest  of  savage  types,  to  the  highest  psychological  products 
of  the  most  civilized  peoples.  It  is  with  this  double  meaning,  including 
both  the  ontogenesis  and  phylogenesis  of  psychic  manifestation,  that  the 
term  genetic  psychology  is  here  used. 

The  paper  here  presented  is  an  attempt  to  make  a  beginning  of  an 
unprejudiced  study  of  the  actual  mental  characteristics  of  some  of  the  lowest 
of  savage  tribes  with  a  view  to  finding  whether  their  mental  life  does  or  does 
not  reveal  any  definite  types  similar  to  those  found  in  ontogenetic  develop- 
ment.    Is  there,  for  example,  a  phase  of  phylogenesis  which  corresponds 


2  PLAY  ACTIVITIES   OF  ADULT  SAVAGES  AND  CHILDREN 

to  that  period  of  childhood  when  hunger  for  sensations  seems  to  be  the 
dominating  impulse  ?  Is  there  a  period  when  the  imaginative  fancy  con- 
trols the  intellectual  life  ?  or  when  the  critical  judgment  awakens  to  activity  ? 
or  when  philosophical  speculation  ripens?  Is  individualism  a  marked 
characteristic  of  any  one  level  of  phylogenetic  development  ?  or  competition  ? 
or  social  feeling  ?  or  altruism  ?  No  doubt  we  shall  find  traces  of  all  these 
characteristics  at  all  points  in  the  phylogenetic  series,  but  in  ontogenesis 
some  of  them  certainly  seem  to  become  emphatic  at  pretty  well-defined 
levels  of  development.  Is  this  successive  evolution  of  types  discernible  in 
phylogenesis,  and  if  so,  will  they  assist  in  any  degree  in  constructing  a  psycho- 
logical series  which  will  fairly  represent  a  continuous  process  of  development 
from  phylogenetic  infancy  to  phylogenetic  maturity  ? 

The  answers  to  these  questions  can  be  found  in  one  way  only — not  by 
unwarrantable  assumption  that  whatever  is  different  from  our  own  type  or 
race  is  therefore  lower;  nor  by  speculative  hypothesis,  merely — but  rather, 
and  only,  by  direct  investigation  of  the  psychology  of  the  savage  and 
barbarous  peoples  themselves.  Thus  far,  however,  the  light  which  such 
study  would  have  thrown  upon  the  whole  subject  of  race  psychology  has 
been  greatly  obscured  by  the  tendency,  far  too  common,  on  the  part  of 
investigators,  of  lumping  together  all  peoples  of  a  comparatively  low  degree 
of  civilization,  especially  the  hunting  peoples,  under  the  one  rubric 
"savages"  and,  too  frequently,  ascribing  to  all  the  characteristics  of  the 
lowest — a  method  quite  as  valuable,  from  the  scientific  standpoint,  as  it 
would  be  for  Britons  or  Germans  to  lump  together  the  peoples  of  the  United 
States  under  the  rubric  "civilized,"  and  to  estimate  the  industries,  ethics, 
religion,  and  general  culture  of  the  whole  people  by  that  of  the  civilized 
Negroes  and  Indians.  In  the  following  study  on  the  play  activities  of 
savages  the  attempt  is  made  to  limit  the  investigation  to  a  few  of  the  simplest 
and  least  developed  savage  tribes  known,  in  order  to  find  the  most  ele- 
mentary type  of  human  adult  mind  now  existing  in  its  normal  condition, 
to  the  end  that  it  may  be  used  as  a  basis  of  comparison,  in  the  study  of 
more  advanced  peoples. 

The  method  of  investigation  is  what  has  been  called  the  "collective 
method,"  by  which  it  is  sought  to  find  characteristics  which  really  belong 

to  the  whole  group,  not  merely  those  which  are  the  result 
Investie-ation  °^  individual  variation.     The  method  has  been  adopted  by 

many  investigators  in  child-study,  and  finds  its  largest 
illustration,  perhaps,  in  the  psychological  studies  directed  by  Dr.  G.  Stanley 
Hall,  which  have  appeared  from  time  to  time  in  the  Pedagogical  Seminary,'^ 
and  in  Studies  in  Education  edited  by  Professor  Earl  Barnes.^     In  the  two 


INTRODUCTION  3 

volumes  which  the  latter  devotes  to  these  studies,  Professor  Barnes  attempts 
to  ascertain  (i)  the  varying  types  of  mental  life  which  characterize  the 
individual  in  passing  from  infancy  to  early  manhood  and  womanhood,  and 
(2)  the  age  at  which  these  types  become  predominant.  By  a  study  of  the 
child's  attitude  toward  punishment  he  finds  that  the  six-year-old  child,  if 
free  to  carry  out  his  inclinations,  would  administer  a  wholly  arbitrary  and 
very  severe  punishment,  entirely  without  relation  to  the  motives  of  the  of- 
fender, to  the  enormity  of  the  offense,  or  even  to  laws  existing  for  the  express 
purpose  of  regulating  such  punishments.  The  same  child  at  thirteen  or 
fourteen  years  of  age  begins  to  take  motives  and  mitigating  circumstances 
into  consideration  and  to  temper  severity  with  mercy  in  prescribing  what  the 
punishment  shall  be,  while  at  sixteen  years  of  age  he  will  waive  his  personal 
inclinations  and  accept  the  punishment  established  by  law.  So,  too,  with 
regard  to  the  critical  judgment.  In  the  little  child  it  is  almost  lacking.  He 
accepts  blindly  the  fanciful  story,  the  Santa  Claus  myth,  or  the  fairy  tale, 
without  a  question  as  to  its  truth,  or  the  veracity  of  the  narrator.  A  little 
later  he  asks  for  "true  stories";  by  the  time  he  is  twelve  or  fourteen 
years  old  the  critical  judgment  has  become  active,  and  at  sixteen  he 
inclines  to  reject  all  evidence  which  does  not  stand  the  test  of  being  ''good 
authority." 

To  the  writer  it  seemed  possible,  (i)  that  a  phylogenetic  as  well  as  an 
ontogenetic  series  might  present  just  such  a  continuous  and  perfectly  normal 
series  of  changes  from  one  mental  attitude  to  another,  at  different  levels  of 
phylogenetic  development;  (2)  that  the  viewpoint  of  the  savages  themselves 
might  be  determined,  in  many  instances,  by  a  method  somewhat  similar  to 
that  employed  by  the  previously  mentioned  authors.  In  making  this 
incursion  into  an  unworked  department  of  genetic  psychology,  the  play 
activities  of  adult  savages  seemed  to  furnish  a  fruitful  field  of  investigation 
as  a  starting-point,  the  conclusions  in  regard  to  which  appear  in  the  present 
paper. 

It  would  have  been  extremely  desirable  to  use  exactly  the  same  method 
of  investigation,  with  respect  to  the  psychology  of  savages,  as  has  been 
employed  in  the  study  of  child  psychology,  namely,  the  questionnaire 
method,  by  means  of  which  the  views  of  children  are  expressed  in  their  own 
words.  Unfortunately,  this  method  is  impossible  of  application  with 
savages,  who  can  neither  read  nor  write.  We  are  forced  then  to  confine 
our  investigations  to  such  facts  as  are  revealed  in  their  institutions,  customs, 
mythology,  etc.,  and  by  studies  of  unprejudiced  travelers  and  investigators 
and  scientists.  Our  results  will  not,  therefore,  be  quite  so  reliable  as  in 
case'of  the  data  obtained  from  children.     Nor  can  we  expect  that  the  con- 


4  PLAY  ACTIVITIES  OF  ADULT  SAVAGES  AND  CHILDREN 

elusions  reached  will  be  final — our  knowledge  of  the  primitive  peoples  is 
too  incomplete  for  that — but  even  with  such  limitations,  it  is  believed  that 
we  nevertheless  have  access  to  a  rich  field  of  investigation,  hitherto  neglected, 
and  that  even  if  the  studies  referred  to  fail  utterly  to  establish  the  specific 
conclusions  for  which  they  were  undertaken,  they  still  have  an  ethnological 
value  of  their  own,  quite  independent  of  the  specific  psychological  questions 
involved.    It  must  not  be  forgotten,  however,  that, 

(a)  Any  psychological  conclusions  reached  in  the  study  of  play  must  be 
verified  and  supplemented  by  studies  of  other  mental  phenomena  of  the 
same  tribes,  for  example,  the  psychical  characteristics  of  their  art,  language, 
mythology,  science,  music,  ownership  of  property,  and  so  forth. 

(b)  Intermediate  and  higher  forms  of  civilization  must  be  studied  by  the 
same  method  as  the  lower  types  here  introduced,  before  any  continuity  of 
relationship  can  be  affirmed  between  one  group  and  another  in  the  phylo- 
genetic  series. 

The  study  is  inductive.  We  have  steadfastly  refused  to  be  committed, 
mentally,  to  either  side  of  the  discussion,  except  as  the  evidence  itself — in 
some  cases  leading  to  quite  unexpected  inferences — has  compelled  us. 
Hence,  we  have  no  thesis  to  defend.  Nevertheless,  for  the  sake  of  greater 
clearness  of  thought,  the  general  conclusion  of  the  study  is  given  on  p.  vii. 
Minor  conclusions  will  be  found  on  pp.  74-83.  It  will  be  seen  by  a  reference 
to  those  pages  that  our  conclusions  partly  agree  and  partly  disagree  with 
the  so-called  recapitulation  theory,  if  by  that  theory  is  meant  entire  agree- 
ment between  racial  and  individual  development.  So  far  as  somatic 
characteristics  of  play  activities  are  concerned,  very  close  though  not  perfect 
correspondence  is  found  between  the  savage  and  the  child.  In  the  matter 
of  organization  of  play  activities,  wide  differences  appear,  while  in  the 
psychological  characteristics  of  their  play  those  qualities,  such  as,  for 
example,  rhythm,  dramatization,  and  competition,  which,  with  civilized 
children,  are  exceptionally  strong  in  very  early  life,  are  also  very  strong  with 
the  savages — indeed,  it  would  almost  seem  even  more  so  with  them  than  the 
children.  On  the  other  hand,  the  more  purely  abstract  and  intellectual 
phases  of  children's  play  are  almost  absolutely  lacking. 

It  would  thus  seem  that  disparities  in  ontogenesis  and  phylogenesis 
appear  in  psychological  development,  in  quite  as  marked  a  degree  as  Pro- 
fessor Lillie  (see  p.  75)  affirms  in  biological  development;  and  they  tend 
to  raise  the  question  whether  biological  and  psychological  variations  may 
not  even  stand  to  each  other  in  the  relation  of  cause  and  effect,  or  at  least 
of  correspondence.  The  possibility  of  such  a  relation  has  led  to  the  formu- 
lation of  what  we  have  termed  "the  biological  theory  of  play,"  for  a  wider 


INTRODUCTION  5 

application  of  which  we  must  refer  to  a  not  yet  completed  study  on  somatic 
characteristics. 

From  what  has  just  been  said  regarding  lack  of  correspondence  in 
recapitulation,  it  follows  that  we  also  fail  to  find  complete  confirmation  of 
the  culture-epoch  theory,  i.e.,  the  theory  that  the  subject-matter  of  instruc- 
tion during  any  period  of  the  child's  development  should  consist  of  the 
cultural  products  of  the  race,  which  have  developed  during  the  period  which 
is  comparable  to  the  child's  stage  of  development.  For  while  some  phases 
of  a  particular  stage  of  race  development,  as,  for  example,  physical  char- 
acteristics, might  correspond  quite  closely  to  those  of  the  child  at  some 
particular  time,  another  phase  of  the  same  period,  reasoning  power,  for 
example,  might  be  far  behind  that  of  the  child.  Hence  culture  products, 
art,  literature,  etc.,  if  used,  should  not  be  restricted  to  any  particular  stage 
of  race  development,  as  the  hunting  stage,  or  the  agricultural,  but  should 
be  gleaned  from  whatever  source  will  awaken  a  keen  response  on  the  part 
of  the  child.  His  interest  in  the  product  will  be  the  surest  proof  of  its 
fitness  for  his  use. 

With  this  preliminary  survey  of  the  whole  field  of  investigation  we  pass 
to  a  more  definite  consideration  of  our  specific  problem. 

The  first  question  which  confronts  us  in  the  practical  solution  of  our 
problem  is  the  choice  of  specific  savage  tribes  to  be  studied.     In  making 
this  decision  two  conditions  must  be  satisfied:    (i)  They 
What  opeciiie  must  be  low  in  savagery,  even  as  compared  with  other 
Tribes  Shall  o    ■/  >  * 

p   Th         9      savage  peoples,  in  order  that  the  simplest  possible  type  may 

be  obtained;  (2)  the  groups  to  be  studied  must  be  chosen 
from  such  various  locations,  and  conditions  of  environment,  and  must  be 
so  widely  separated  from  one  another,  that  if  any  common  characteristics 
do  appear,  it  will  be  because  they  are  universal  to  all  peoples  of  a  similar 
degree  of  culture,  not  merely  the  result  of  circumstance  and  environ- 
ment. 

In  fulfilling  the  first  of  these  conditions,  the  writer  must  be  exonerated 
from  all  charges  of  prejudice  in  favor  of  such  tribes  as  would  exemplify 
or  prove  a  pet  theory,  inasmuch  as  almost  absolute  ignorance  of  all  of 
them,  at  the  time  when  this  study  was  begun,  made  a  prejudicial  choice 
impossible.  Indeed,  it  is  now  believed  that  a  somewhat  different  selection, 
for  example,  in  the  choice  of  the  Eskimos,  would  have  led  to  results  much 
more  striking  than  those  here  obtained.  Some  of  the  Indian  tribes  of  Cali- 
fornia are  possibly  of  a  lower  type  than  the  Eskimos.  Nevertheless  as  one 
Indian  tribe  was  already  selected  from  South  America,  it  seemed  better  to 
retain  the  Eskimos  in  the  phylogenetic  group,  for  the  sake  of  greater  racial 


6  PLAY  ACTIVITIES   OF  ADULT  SAVAGES   AND  CHILDREN 

variety,  and  also  because  of  the  abundance  and  reliability  of  data  which 
can  be  obtained  concerning  them. 

Nor,  under  the  circumstances,  could  we  have  any  opinion  as  to  whether 
the  study  here  proposed  would  militate  for  or  against  the  theory  of  onto- 
genetic and  phylogenetic  parallelism.  It  is  the  belief  of  the  writer  that  the 
whole  subject  is,  at  least  in  its  main  contentions,  somewhat  in  disfavor,  at 
the  present  time,  both  with  psychologists  and  anthropologists.  To  throw 
light  upon  the  subject,  one  way  or  the  other,  has  been  the  only  controlling 
motive  in  the  selection  of  data.  Inadequacy  of  knowledge  may  make  the 
conclusions  incorrect,  but  inadequate  knowledge  is  a  diflficulty  inhering  in 
every  attempt  at  scientific  investigation,  and  can  only  be  met  by  further 
investigation,  to  stimulate  which  is  one  of  the  chief  aims  of  this  paper. 

In  estimating  the  culture  of  primitive  races,  we  are  learning  more  and 
more  humility  in  the  expression  of  opinion,  as  we  are  more  and  more  led  to 
realize  how  much  ignorance  and  "the  personal  equation"  have  exerted 
an  influence  in  the  formation  of  those  opinions.  We  will  state,  however, 
what  have  been  the  current  estimates  as  to  which  tribes  are  considered 
lowest  in  civilization. 

Karl  Bucher  names  the  following  groups  of  savages,  as  being  the  lowest 
known  tribes:  the  Forest  Indians  of  Brazil;  the  Bushmen  of  South  Africa; 
the  Batuas  in  the  Congo  Basin;  the  Veddahs  in  Ceylon;  the  Mincopies  of 
the  Andaman  Islands;  the  Australians;  the  Negritos  of  the  Philippine 
Islands;  the  Tasmanians;  the  Kubus  in  Sumatra;  the  Fuegians  of  Terra 
del  Fuego;  the  Botocudos  of  South  America.  Regarding  them  he  says: 
"All  the  tribes  involved  in  our  survey  belong  to  the  smaller  races  of  man- 
kind, and  in  bodily  condition  give  the  impression  of  backward,  stunted 
growth."  7 

Morgan  names  the  Australians  and  most  of  the  Polynesians;  3^  Tylor, 
the  Australians  and  Forest  Indians  of  Brazil. "^^ 

Spencer  includes  in  his  groups  of  lowest  races  the  Fuegians,  Andamans, 
Veddahs,  Australians,  Tasmanians  (extinct),  New  Caledonians,  New 
Guineans,  and  Fijiians.s^ 

Grosse  names  the  Australians,  Veddahs,  Bushmen,  Yahgans,  Eskimos, 
Andamanese,  Botocudos,  Tasmanians  (extinct),  Fijiians,  the  natives  of 
Torres  Straits,  certain  Brazilian  tribes,  the  Bantus  of  South  Africa,  Pata- 
gonians,  etc.** 

Out  of  all  these  tribes,  what  specific  groups  shall  we  choose  for  our 
study  ? 

In  order  to  secure  the  greatest  variety  possible,  both  in  race  and  in 
environment,  suppose  we  choose  a  tribe  from  each  of  five  continents — 


INTRODUCTION  7 

from  Asia,  the  Forest  Veddahs  of  Ceylon;  from  Australia,  the  Central 
Tribes;  from  Africa,  the  Bushmen;  from  South  America,  the  Canoe 
Indians  of  Terra  del  Fuego;  from  North  America,  the  Eskimos. 

Space  does  not  permit  to  set  forth  here  the  details,  most  interesting 
though  they  are,  of  habitat,  social  environment,  and  personal  characteristics 
of  these  peoples.  Suffice  it  to  say  there  is  ample  reason  to  believe  that  the 
tribes  here  named  are  not  only  extremely  low  in  culture,  but  are  also  very 
ancient  races.* 

Having,  then,  thus  briefly  introduced  our  friends  representing  five 
different  continents,  one  tribe  from  the  Torrid  zone,  one  from  a  tropical, 
one  from  a  subtropical,  one  from  a  cold  temperate,  and  one  from  a  frigid 
zone — the  first  from  the  beautiful  forests  and  parks  of  central  Ceylon,  the 
second  from  the  semi-deserts  of  Central  Australia,  the  third  from  the 
mountainous  caves  and  uplands  of  central  and  southern  Africa,  the  fourth 
from  the  bleak  islands  south  of  South  America,  and  the  fifth  from  the  icy 
Land  of  the  Midnight  Sun — we  are  now  prepared  to  analyze  their  character- 
istics, in  order  to  discover  whether  there  is,  or  is  not,  any  prevailing  type 
among  these  heterogeneous  fragments  of  humanity.  Among  the  most 
timid  and  unsocial  of  races,  the  most  untutored,  the  bravest,  the  most 
treacherous  and  cruel,  and  the  most  hospitable  of  tribes,  shall  we  find  any- 
thing in  common,  beyond  the  two  characteristics  assumed  in  the  beginning, 
namely,  humanity  and  savagery  ? 

In  the  search  for  psychological  data,  the  play  reactions  have  been 
selected  for  the  initial  study  of  characteristics,  as  being  somewhat  more 
tangible  than  purely  mental  phenomena,  and  also  because  much  work  has 
been  done  on  the  ontogenetic  side.  We  shall  not  attempt  to  revise  the 
results  which  have  already  been  reached,  regarding  the  laws  revealed  in 
children's  play.  We  shall  assume  that  these  laws,  so  far  as  they  have  been 
formulated  by  Professors  Hall,  Barnes,  Gulick,  and  others,  are  substan- 
tially correct.  Our  own  effort  will  be  limited  to  an  attempt  to  extend  the 
application  of  these  laws  to  the  race,  as  well  as  to  the  individual,  and  by 
so  doing  to  determine  whether  any  parallelism  exists  between  the  character- 
istics of  the  two.  The  savage  tribes  will  be  considered  in  the  order  in  which 
they  are  named  above. 

*  In  an  unpublished  manuscript  these  points  have  been  studied  in  detail. 


n 

ANALYSIS   OF  PLAYS  OF  SAVAGES 

FIRST  GROUP 

With  the  exception  of  a  few  simple  games  for  children,  which  are 
excluded  from  this  study,  the  Veddahs  seem  to  have  few  amusements 
other  than  singing,  and  the  dance  accompanied  by  singing. 
y  , ,  ,  These  latter  are  given  only  by  men,  and  from  the  descrip- 

tions we  gain  the  impression  that  even  they  are  much  more 
work  than  play.    Hiller  and  Furness  say  of  them:  '^ 

We  saw  no  musical  instrument  at  the  village  "where  bugs  are  plenty,"  nor 
did  we  expect  to  find  any  musical  tendencies  in  so  silent  a  people;  but  when  we 
asked  the  chief  of  the  Rock  Veddahs  if  they  knew  how  to  dance,  he  at  once  sat 
down  on  the  steps  of  the  rest  house,  and  his  four  younger  followers  took  their 
places  in  the  roadway.  Then  the  old  chief  sang  in  a  dismal  minor  key,  and  the 
men,  keeping  step  with  the  chanting,  twisted  and  turned  and  stamped  the  earth 
alternately  with  the  heel  and  the  ball  of  the  foot.  Their  arms  himg  loosely  from 
their  shoulders  and  swung  with  the  motions  of  the  body;  their  eyes  were  fixed 
on  the  ground  at  their  feet,  and  their  hair  was  shaken  forward  half  obscuring  their 
faces.  The  old  chief  nodded  his  head  to  the  measured  time  of  the  dance,  and 
clapped  his  hands,  to  which  the  dancers  responded  at  times  by  voice  or  by  clapping 
with  their  hands.  There  were  various  figures,  and  the  change  in  the  time,  or  a 
pause  in  the  song,  called  for  a  new  method  of  stamping  or  twisting.  The  four 
dancers  seemed  independent  of  each  other,  while  following  out  similar  figures, 
twisting  in  and  out  close  together  but  never  touching.  At  the  conclusion  the 
performers  were  perspiring  profusely  and  seemed  exhausted  and  quite  dizzy,  but 
at  no  time  did  they  show  any  interest  in  the  audience  nor  did  they  seem  to  realize 
that  they  were  performing  for  the  benefit  of  any  one  but  themselves.  The  utmost 
solenmity  was  maintained  throughout  the  dance;  in  fact  we  do  not  remember  to 
have  seen  the  slightest  sign  of  mirth  or  laughter  during  our  whole  acquaintance  with 
the  Veddahs. 

According  to  the  Sarasins,  the  arrow  dance  of  the  Veddahs  has  a  religious 
meaning.  It  takes  place  in  a  circle,  about  an  arrow  stuck  in  the  earth. 
The  performers  move  themselves  continuously  and  slowly  about  the  arrow, 
in  a  peculiar  movement,  without  touching  each  other,  each  dancer  making 
a  half  revolution,  then  another  half,  and  so  on.  The  feet  move  little,  but 
the  arms  are  actively  swaying  meanwhile,  and  the  head  swings  with  the 
arms.    The  hair  is  thrown  about  with  the  swinging  head.    They  accom- 

8 


PLAYS   OF  SAVAGES  9 

pany  their  dance  with  informal  singing,  working  themselves  up  into  the 
highest  nervous  excitement,  and  becoming  covered  with  perspiration  as  the 
dance  proceeds.  At  intervals  they  slap  the  body  with  their  hands,  the  slap 
becoming  harder  as  the  performance  continues,  until  it  can  plainly  be 
heard  some  distance  away.  One  after  another  the  performers  fall  exhausted 
to  the  ground,  w^here  they  lie  upon  the  back  howling,  perhaps,  between 
gasps  and  trembling  in  every  limb.^' 

These  writers  add  furthermore  that  the  dance  is'painful  to  look  upon, 
that  the  onlooker  becomes  excited  also  in  watching  the  game,  and  that  to 
refrain  from  breaking  in  upon  it  constitutes  a  test  of  one's  strength  of  mind. 
The  participants  are  very  earnest,  and  angry  if  anyone  laughs.  Tennant 
"could  never  bring  himself  to  permit  the  dance  to  come  to  its  convulsive 
close."  The  Sarasins  believe,  however,  that  while  the  dance  has  religious 
motives  as  its  background,  it  is  also  employed  as  an  expression  of  gratitude 
for  any  gift,  inasmuch  as,  upon  receiving  the  presents  of  the  visitors, 
individual  men  began  the  dance  again,  and  soon  fell  exhausted  to  the 
ground.  This  method  of  returning  thanks  was  especially  noticeable  in  the 
case  of  one  old  man,  who  had  received  the  much-coveted  prize  of  an  empty 
old  bottle.  Hoffmaster  also  relates  that  a  Veddah  to  whom  a  pocket 
handkerchief  had  been  given  tied  it  about  his  loins  and  danced  in  the 
manner  described  above.  In  Nilgala  a  fire  was  sometimes  built  round  the 
dance  circle,  when  the  hunt  had  been  good,  if  the  dance  was  to  be  held  in 
the  night.  Occasionally  bows  are  placed  around  in  a  circle  in  place  of 
fire.  Sometimes  the  dance  is  given  in  the  hope  of  a  better  hunt,  sometimes 
as  a  thankofiFering  for  a  good  one.  Sometimes  it  is  given  in  gratitude  for 
the  gift  of  a  spectator. 

Another  author^?  describes  a  Wewatte  dance  of  a  similar  nature  but 
taking  place  in  the  night.  The  moon  had  just  risen;  a  brushwood  fire 
threw  its  unsteady  light  upon  the  huts  where  the  Veddahs  lay,  stretched 
out  in  disorder  upon  the  ground.  All  was  still,  when  suddenly  a  Veddah 
began  the  first  verse  of  a  song.  It  was  a  signal  for  all  to  follow,  and  together 
they  rose  up  and  began  the  weird,  wild  dance,  accompanying  it  with  hoarse^ 
deep  tones  resembling  the  death  rattle,  and  striking  their  bodies  with 
blows  which  answer  the  purpose  of  musical  instruments,  as  an  accompani- 
ment to  the  dance.  Again  they  continued  the  violent  exercise  until  exhaus- 
tion and  dizziness  overpowered  them  and  they  sank  groaning  and  panting 
to  the  ground. 

It  is  probable  that  such  dances  may  also  have  the  further  significance 
of  charms  or  exorcisms  against  wild  beasts,  as  the  Veddahs  are  known  to 
have  verbal  charms  of  such  a  nature.3 


lO  PLAY  ACTIVITIES  OF  ADULT  SAVAGES   AND  CHILDREN 

Quite  in  keeping  with  this  last  idea  is  the  motif  of  another  dance  of  the 
Veddahs,  but  which  the  Sarasins  think  has  been  introduced  from  the 
Singhalese.  In  this  the  dancers  hold  branches  of  trees  in  their  hands 
while  they  dance  around  the  sick  or  dying  friend  who  needs  their  friendly 
ministrations.  The  dance  either  summons  the  good  spirits  or  drives  away 
the  bad  one  which  is  troubling  the  patient,  and  he  is  therefore  able  to 
recover. 

But  these  serious-minded  children  of  the  forest  have  their  pleasure 
dances  also,  as  well  as  their  hunting  and  exorcising  and  curative  dances, 
and  in  these  they  appear  in  festive  attire,  that  is,  with  leafy  branches  fastened 
about  their  waists.    Unfortunately,  we  know  little  about  them. 

Closely  allied  to  the  dances  are  the  improvised  songs,  such  as  that  of 
the  old  woman  to  whom  presents  were  given,  in  return  for  which  she 
sang  in  a  few  tones  constantly  repeated,  "The  gentleman  promised  cloth, 
he  has  only  given  money,"  until  he  either  gave  more  or  dismissed  his 
musician.  The  author  adds  that  in  this  improvising  of  words  and  music, 
so  similar  to  customs  of  civilized  children,  may,  perhaps,  be  found  the 
beginnings  of  poetry.^? 

Aside  from  the  descriptions  given  above,  the  only  other  activity  of  which 
we  have  found  any  mention,  which  could  by  any  means  be  regarded  as  a 
play  activity,  is  the  practice,  not  very  common  apparently,  of  discharging 
the  arrows  from  the  bow  with  the  feet,  instead  of  with  the  hands.  It  is 
diflScult  to  see  how  this  custom  could  have  arisen,  except  in  sport,  unless  it 
might,  perhaps,  be  of  some  advantage  in  concealing  a  hunter  from  the 
pursued  animal.  One  author,  not  a  reliable  one,  however,  mentions 
swinging  from  the  branches  of  trees. 

The  play  activities  of  any  people  probably  do  not  represent  the  highest 

capacity  which  that  people  possesses.     Some  great  emergency,  ot  dire 

necessity,  or  strenuous  impulse  is  necessary  to  call  forth 

Classification  ^^^^  supreme  effort  which  reveals  the  utmost  of  which  human 

of  Play  ^,  ,   ,  T^,  ,  r  ,  r  •    1 

Activities  nature  is  capable.  Plays  do  not,  for  the  most  part,  furmsh 
such  incentives.  They  do,  however,  represent  those  powers 
of  body  and  mind  which  have  been  habitually  in  use,  and  which  are  so  well 
established  that  their  exercise  has  become  a  pleasure  and  not  a  disagreeable 
task.  It  may  be,  therefore,  that  they  represent  the  attainments  of  the 
people  as  a  whole,  even  more  truly  than  the  sporadic  cases  of  the  few 
geniuses,  who,  intellectually,  are  much  superior  to  their  fellows.  Is  it 
possible,  then,  to  classify  play  activities  by  any  method  which  will  make 
them  a  real  criterion  of  race  development,  or  a  basis  of  comparison  between 
different  races? 


PLAYS   OF  SAVAGES  II 

They  might,  for  example,  be  classified  from  the  standpoint  of  somatic 
characteristics,  noting,  for  instance,  whether  the  physical  activity  of  the 
play  furnishes  the  chief  source  of  enjoyment,  or  whether 
rp  the  intellectual  elements  of  the  play  are  the  real  attraction. 

Among  the  physical  characteristics  themselves,  it  may  be 
noted,  further,  whether  they  are  of  the  somatic  type  involving  the  use  of 
the  large  muscles  of  the  body  as  a  whole,  or  whether  they  consist  rather  of 
the  specialized  order  of  activities  dependent  upon  careful  training  and 
adjustment  of  the  finer  and  more  delicate  muscles  of  the  body,  such  as, 
for  example,  those  of  the  fingers,  or  of  the  vocal  cords. 

It  might  be  urged  that  any  argument  based  upon  such  distinctions  would 
fail,  since,  although  such  niceties  of  adjustment  may  not  be  found  in  the 
play  of  the  Veddahs,  they  are  found  and  habitually  used  in  hunting  activities, 
proving  that  the  power  of  muscular  control  is  really  developed,  even  though 
it  may  not  be  used  in  play.  It  does  not  appear,  however,  even  in  the 
strenuous  necessities  of  hunting,  that  the  bow  and  arrow  are  used  among 
the  Veddahs  with  much  exactness.  Elephants  are  captured  by  shooting 
arrows  into  the  feet  of  the  animals  until  they  are  too  lame  to  walk.  But 
an  elephant's  foot  is  a  tolerably  extensive  target.  Bailey  distinctly  states 
that  the  Veddahs,  though  a  hunting  people,  "are  miserable  marksmen," 
and  although  he  repeatedly  arranged  shooting-matches  in  order  to  test  their 
skill  with  bow  and  arrow,  he  never  was  able  to  find  a  person  who  showed 
much  ability  in  this  respect.  We  may  probably  safely  conclude,  then, 
that  such  skill  is  at  least  not  sufficiently  developed  to  make  its  exercise  a 
recreation. 

It  must  be  distinctly  understood,  however,  that  the  mere  fact  of  indul- 
gence in  plays  of  the  somatic  type  is  of  no  significance  whatever,  if  taken 
alone.  The  essential  thing  to  note  is  that  among  the  Veddahs  otily  such 
plays  are  found.  For  example,  there  are  no  highly  specialized  finger  plays 
at  all  comparable,  in  delicacy  of  movement,  to  piano  pla)ring,  or  even  to 
the  simple  modern  games  of  "crockonole"  or  "tiddledy winks,"  plays  in 
which  the  result  sought  is  dependent  upon  the  perfect  control  of  the  small 
muscles  of  the  fingers,  the  rest  of  the  body  being  comparatively  quiescent. 
Even  those  plays  in  which  the  arms  and  hands  are  chiefly  employed,  to  the 
exclusion  of  the  body  as  a  whole — juggling,  for  example — seem  to  be  also 
lacking.  The  question  is  raised  at  once  as  to  whether  this  absence  of  high 
specialization  has  any  biological  significance.  Does  it  mean  that  those 
muscles  which  come  somewhat  late  under  control  in  the  development  of 
the  civilized  child  are  not  quite  so  fully  developed,  and  not  quite  so  finely 
organized  in  the  lowest  type  of  savages  as  with  the  civilized  man  ?     Or  is 


12  PLAY  ACTIVITIES   OF  ADULT  SAVAGES  AND  CHILDREN 

the  absence  of  such  plays  a  purely  fortuitous  circumstance,  without  signifi- 
cance of  any  kind  ?    This  question  will  be  discussed  farther  on. 

Secondly,  plays  might  be  classified  from  the  standpoint  of  organization. 
We  judge  of  the  young  child,  whose  amusements  are  of  the  individualistic 

type,  consisting  almost  wholly  of  running,  skipping,  and 
Objective  other  purely  physical  exercises;    who  expresses  his  every 

Ori-aTii7fttinTi  ^'^otion,  now  in  a  spontaneous  song,  now  in  an  impromptu 

dance,  now  by  hiding  or  jumping,  but  all  without  fore- 
thought or  plan — that  is,  without  organization — and  whose  amusements 
have  little  relation  to  his  fellows,  other  than,  perhaps,  mere  repetition  of 
their  acts,  that  he  is  a  less  developed  child,  mentally,  than  another  who  is 
full  of  initiative,  who  organizes  his  playmates  into  groups,  for  the  purpose 
of  carrying  out  more  complex  designs,  or  of  carrying  them  out  more 
effectively.  We  judge  of  a  laborer,  who  goes  at  his  task  in  a  haphazard, 
desultory,  aimless  manner,  that  he  is  a  less  intelligent  man  than  another 
whose  work  has  been  carefully  planned  and  systematized.  Shall  we  infer 
that  a  people  having  only  simple,  unorganized,  or  little  organized  plays 
of  the  physical-exercise  type,  is  a  less  developed  people  intellectually  than 
another  having  well-organized  and  complex  games,  with  rules  to  be  strictly 
followed,  definite  parts  assigned  to  each  player,  definite  ends  to  be  gained, 
and  definite  means  for  accomplishing  those  ends  ? 

Thirdly,  plays  may  be  classified  from  the  subjective  standpoint,  taking 
into  consideration  the  psychological  elements  which  make  them  attractive, 

apart  from  mere  pleasure  in  physical  activity.  Such 
»aDjeciive  01  gig^jents  are  found  in  sensation,  rhythm,  mimicry,  dramati- 
Psychological  .  a  ■     •  ^  u    /  \    ^ -u 

m  zation,  competition  or  rivalry,  and  m  intellectual  skill  or 

alertness,  etc.  It  is  well  known  that  in  the  individual  child 
the  emphasis  shifts  from  one  phase  to  another  of  these  various  elements,  in 
his  choices  of  games,  during  the  process  of  his  development,  the  imitative  and 
dramatic  plays  being  chosen  at  one  period,  the  competitive  plays  at  another, 
and  so  on.  Which  of  these  elements  is  most  characteristic  of  the  lower  races  ? 
Lastly,  inasmuch  as  each  of  the  three  modes  of  classification  named 
above  represents  a  genetic  series,  there  may,  possibly,  be  a  gain  in  applying 
all  three  tests  to  the  play  of  the  various  tribes  under  consideration,  with 
a  comparison  of  results.  The  latter  method  may  be  assumed  to  be  the 
safer  one,  since  each  series  of  results  will  be  a  check  upon  the  other. 

SUMMARY 

I,  Somatic  type. — Summing  up,  then,  the  characteristics  of  the  play  of 
Veddahs,  and  applying  each  of  the  three  tests  named  above,  the  somatic 
type  is  found  to  be  activity  of  the  whole  body. 


PLAYS  OF  SAVAGES  I3 

2.  Organization. — The  type  of  organization  or  the  objective  character- 
istics are: 

(a)  Individual  play  as  in  the  case  of  the  "thanks  dance." 

(b)  The  undefined  group,  as  in  the  case  of  the  arrow  dance,  which  is 
sometimes  performed  by  three  persons,  sometimes  by  many. 

3.  Psychological  type. — The  psychological  characteristics  are: 

(a)  Rhythm,  as  shown  in  the  various  dances,  the  movements  of  the  body, 
swaying  of  arms  and  head,  the  nodding,  clapping,  and  striking  of  the  body, 
in  the  simultaneous  movements  of  the  dances,  in  the  rudimentary  poetry, 
in  the  repetition  of  phrases,  and  in  singing. 

(b)  Spontaneity,  as  shown  in  the  impromptu  begging  songs  and  "thanks 
dance." 

.  (c)  Mimicry  should  probably  be  named  as  the  third  characteristic,  for, 
although  not  mentioned  and  apparently  not  noticed  by  the  authors  who 
describe  the  above-named  dances,  the  arrow  dance  is  undoubtedly  a 
mimetic  performance,  in  which  the  labored  breathing,  the  "snorting  like 
hippopotami,"  the  " Leibeskraf ten  Tone,"  the  fall  to  the  ground,  the 
trembling,  gasping,  and  occasional  howls  between  the  gasps,  the  death 
rattle,  the  convulsive  spasms,  and,  finally,  quiescence — all  simulate  the 
dying  animal  which  the  fatal  arrow  has  brought  down. 

(d)  The  element  of  magic — the  belief  that  in  some  mysterious  way  the 
performance  in  pantomime  of  the  thing  desired  will  bring  about  the  actual 
event. 

(e)  Repetition, 

SECOND   GROUP 

Concerning  the  amusements  of  the  Central  Australians  we  quote  from 
Eyre:  *' 

An  amusement  of  the  adults  is  a  large  bunch  of  emu  feathers  tied  together, 
which  is  held  out  and  shaken  as  if  in  defiance  by  some  individual,  whilst  the  others 

advance  to  try  to  take  it  out  of  his  hands.  This  occasions 
...  an  amusing  struggle  before  the  prize  is  gained,  in  which  it  is 

not  uncommon  to  see  from  ten  to  twenty  strong  and  lusty  men 
rolling  in  a  heap  together.  This  is  a  sort  of  athletic  exercise  amongst  them  for 
the  purpose  of  testing  each  other's  strength.     On  such  an  occasion   they  are 

all  unarmed  and  naked At  night  dances  or  plays  are  performed  by  the 

different  tribes  in  turn,  the  figures  and  scenes  of  which  are  extensively  varied, 
but  all  are  accompanied  by  songs  and  a  rude  kind  of  music  produced  by 
beating  two  sticks  together,  or  by  the  action  of  the  hand  upon  a  cloak  of  skins 
rolled  tightly  together,  so  as  to  imitate  the  sound  of  a  drum. 


14  PLAY  ACTIVITIES  OF  ADULT  SAVAGES  AND  CHILDREN 

With  regard  to  the  dances  Eyre  says: 

In  some  of  the  dances  only,  are  the  women  allowed  to  take  part,  but  they  have 
dances  of  their  own  in  which  the  men  do  not  join.  At  all  times  they  are  the  chief 
musicians,  vocal  and  instrumental.  Sometimes,  however,  they  have  an  old  man 
to  lead  the  band,  and  pitch  the  times,  and  at  others  they  are  assisted  by  the  old 

and  yoimg  men  indiscriminately Being  excellent  mimics,  they  imitate,  in 

many  of  their  dances,  the  habits  and  movements  of  animals.  They  also  represent 
the  mode  of  hunting,  fighting,  lovemaking,  etc.  New  figures  and  new  songs  are 
constantly  introduced  and  are  as  much  applauded  and  encored,  as  more  refined 
productions  of  a  similar  kind  in  civilized  communities,  being  sometimes  passed 

from  tribe  to  tribe,  for  a  considerable  distance Of  these  amusements  the 

natives  are  passionately  fond,  and  when  once  ....  induced  to  engage  in  them, 
there  is  no  knowing  when  they  will  give  over.  Dances  are  sometimes  held  during 
the  day,  but  these  are  of  rare  occurrence,  and  seem  to  be  ...  .  connected  with 

their  ceremonial  observations  or  superstitions The  dances  vary  a  great 

deal  among  the  different  tribes,  both  as  to  figures  and  music,  the  painting  or 
decoration  of  their  persons,  their  use  of  weapons,  and  the  participation  of  the 

females  in  them The  most  interesting  dances  are  those  which  take  place 

at  tiie  meeting  of  different  tribes.  Each  tribe  performs  in  turn,  and  as  there  is 
much  rivalry,  there  is  a  corresponding  stimulus  to  exertion.  The  dances  usually 
commence  an  hour  or  two  after  dark,  and  are  frequentiy  kept  up  the  greater  part 
of  the  night,  the  performers  becoming  so  much  excited,  that  notwithstanding  the 

violent  exercise  ....  they  are  imable  to  leave  off The  natives  of  the 

Rufiis  and  Lake  Victoria  (Tarru)  have  a  great  variety  of  dances  and  figures. 
One  of  these  which  I  witnessed  representing  the  character,  habits,  and  chase  of  the 
kangaroo  was  admirably  performed  and  would  have  drawTi  dovm  thunders  of 
applause  at  any  theater  in  Europe.  One  part  of  this  figure,  where  the  whole  of 
the  dancers  successively  drop  dovra  from  a  standing  to  a  crouching  posture,  and 
then  hop  off  in  this  position,  with  outstretched  arms  and  legs,  was  excellentiy 
executed.  The  contrast  of  their  sable  skins  with  the  broad  white  stripes  painted 
down  their  legs;  their  peculiar  attitudes,  and  the  order  and  regularity  with  which 
these  were  kept  as  they  moved  in  a  large  semicircle,  in  the  softening  light  of  the  fire, 
produced  a  striking  effect,  and  in  connection  with  the  wild  and  inspiriting  song 
....  led  me  to  believe  that  the  scene  was  unearthly '^ 

String  puzzles  are  another  species  of  amusement  with  them.  In  these  a 
European  would  be  surprised  to  see  the  ingenuity  they  display  and  the  varied  and 
singular  figures  which  they  produce.  Our  juvenile  attempts  in  this  way  are  very 
meager  and  uninteresting  compared  to  theirs.** 

We  have  also  an  account  of  an  improvised  dance  observed  in  one  of  the 
coast  tribes: 

The  Australians  often  invent  new  dances;  for  example,  one  who  had  been 
present  at  the  capture  of  whales,  by  a  party  of  whites,  conceived  the  happy  idea 


PLAYS  OF  SAVAGES  1 5 

of  imitating  the  proceedings  in  a  dance,  and  to  carry  this  notion  into  eflfect,  a  grand 
corrobory  was  resolved  upon.  An  efi&gy  of  the  whale  was  made,  round  which 
they  danced,  driving  their  spears  into  the  figure. '' 

From  the  multitudinous  dramatic  and  ceremonial  dances  of  the  Austra- 
lians we  select  the  following  as  typical: 

About  ten  o'clock  of  the  first  day,  it  was  decided  to  perform  a  ceremony. 
....  On  occasions  such  as  this,  every  man  carries  about  with  him  a  small  wallet, 
which  contains  the  few  odds  and  ends  that  are  needed  for  decoration  in  the 

performance  of  the  various  ceremonies The  men  squat  on  the  groimd, 

and  their  wallets  are  leisurely  opened  out.    There  is  no  such  thing  as  haste 

amongst  the  Australian  natives After  some  preliminary  conversation, 

carried  on  in  whispers,  which  had  reference  to  the  ceremony,  the  performers  being 
instructed  in  their  parts,  and  also  in  what  the  performance  represented,  a  long 
spear  was  laid  on  the  groimd.  One  or  two  of  the  men  went  out  and  gathered  a 
number  of  long  grass  stalks  in  which  the  spear  was  swathed,  except  about  a  foot 
at  the  lower  end,  which  was  left  uncovered.  Then  each  man  present  took  off  his 
hair  waist  girdle,  and  these  were  woimd  roimd  and  round  imtil  spear  and  grass 
stalks  were  completely  enclosed,  and  a  long  pole  about  six  inches  in  diameter  and 
about  eight  feet  in  length  was  formed.  Then,  to  the  top  of  it,  was  fixed  a  bunch 
of  eagle-hawk  and  emu  feathers.  When  this  had  been  done  one  of  the  men  by 
means  of  a  sharp  flint — a  splinter  of  glass  if  obtainable  is  preferred — cut  open  a 
vein  in  his  arm  which  he  had  boimd  tightiy  roimd  with  hair  string  in  the  region  of 
the  biceps.  The  blood  spurted  out  in  a  thin  stream,  and  was  caught  in  the  hollow 
of  a  shield,  until  about  half  a  pint  had  been  drawn,  when  the  string  was  imwound 
from  the  arm,  and  a  finger  held  on  the  slight  wound  until  the  bleeding  ceased. 
Then  the  down  was  opened  out  and  some  of  it  was  mixed  with  red  ochre,  which 
had  been  grovmd  to  powder  on  a  flat  stone.  Four  of  the  Purula  men  then  began 
to  decorate  the  pole  with  alternate  rings  of  red  and  white  down.  Each  of  them 
took  a  short  twig,  bound  a  littie  fur  string  roimd  one  end,  dipped  the  brush  thus 
made  into  the  blood,  and  then  smeared  this  on  over  the  place  where  the  down  was 

to  be  fixed  on All  the  time  that  this  was  taking  place,  the  men  sang  a 

monotonous  chant,  the  words  of  which  were  a  constant  repetition  of  some  such 
simple  refrain  as,  "Paint  it  around  with  rings  and  rings"  ....  "paint  the 
Nurtunja  with  rings."  Every  now  and  then  they  burst  out  into  loud  singing, 
starting  on  a  high  note  and  gradually  descending,  the  singing  dying  away  as  the 
notes  got  lower  and  lower,  producing  the  effect  of  music  dying  away  in  the  dis- 
tance  The  decorated  pole  which  is  made  in  this  way  is  called  a  Nurtunja, 

and  in  one  form  or  another,  it  figures  largely  in  the  sacred  ceremonies As 

soon  as  the  Nurtunja  was  ready,  the  bodies  of  the  performers  were  decorated  with 
designs  drawn  in  ochre  and  birds'  down,  and  then,  when  all  was  ready,  the 
Nurtunja  was  carried  by  the  Purula  man  to  the  ceremonial  ground,  and  there 
....  the  two  men  knelt  down,  the  hinder  one  of  the  two  holding  the  Nurtimja 
upright  with  both  hands  behind  his  back.     It  is  curious  to  watch  the  way  in 


1 6  PLAY  ACTIVITIES  OF  ADULT   SAVAGES   AND  CHILDREN 

which  every  man  who  is  engaged  in  performing  one  of  these  ceremonies  walks; 
the  moment  he  is  painted  up,  he  adopts  a  kind  of  stage  walk  with  a  remarkable 
high  knee  action,  the  foot  being  always  lifted  at  least  twelve  inches  above  the 
ground,  and  the  knee  bent  so  as  to  approach  and,  indeed,  often  to  touch  the 
stomach,  as  the  body  is  bent  forward  at  each  step. 

The  Purula  man  who  had  been  assisting  in  the  decoration  now  called  out  to  the 

other  men,  who  had  not  been  present,  to  come  up At  this  summons,  all 

the  men  on  the  ground  came  up  at  a  run,  shouting  as  they  approached,  "whi'a, 
wha!  wh'r-rr!"  After  dancing  in  front  of  the  two  performers  for  perhaps  half  a 
minute,  the  latter  got  up  and  moved  with  very  high  knee  action,  the  Nurtunja 
being  slowly  bent  down  over  the  heads  of  the  men  who  were  in  front.  Then  the 
dancers  circled  round  the  performers,  shouting  loudly,  "wha!   wha!"  while  the 

latter  moved  around  with  them Then  once  more  the  performers  resumed 

the  position  in  front  of  the  other  men,  over  whose  heads  the  Nurtunja  was  again 
bent  down,  and  then  two  or  three  of  the  men  laid  their  hands  on  the  shoulders  of 
the  performers,  and  the  ceremony  came  to  an  end.  The  Nurtunja  was  laid  on 
one  side,  and  the  performers,  taking  each  a  little  bit  of  down  from  it,  pressed  this 
in  turn  against  the  stomach  of  each  of  the  older  men  who  were  present.  The  idea 
of  placing  hands  upon  the  performers  is  that  thereby  their  movements  are  stopped, 
whilst  the  meaning  of  the  down  being  pressed  against  the  stomachs  of  the  older 
men  is  that  they  become  so  agitated  with  emotion,  by  witnessing  the  sacred 
ceremony,  that  their  inward  parts,  that  is,  their  bowels,  which  are  regarded  as  the 
seat  of  the  emotions,  get  tied  up  in  knots,  which  are  loosened  by  this  appUcation  of 
a  part  of  the  sacred  Nurtunja.    In  some  ceremonies  the  Nurtunja  itself  is  pressed 

against  the  stomachs  of  the  older  men The  whole  performance  only 

lasted  about  five  minutes,  while  the  preparation  for  it  had  occupied  more  than 
three  hours.  As  soon  as  it  was  over  the  performers  sat  on  the  ground;  the  down 
was  removed  from  their  bodies  and  preserved  for  future  use,  and  the  Nurtunja 
was  dismantled,  the  hair  being  carefully  unwound  and  returned  to  its  respective 
owners. S7 

The  Australian  is  passionately  fond  of  singing  and  indulges  in  it  on 
all  occasions,  when  happy,  when  sorrowful,  when  angry,  when  pacified, 
when  full,  when  hungry,  and  when  seated  around  his  camp  fire  with  his 
savage  companions. 

The  songs  are  short,  containing  generally  only  one  or  two  ideas,  and  are 
constantly  repeated  over  and  over  again,  in  a  manner  doubdess  grating  to  the 
untutored  ears  of  a  European,  but  to  one  skilled  in  Australian  music,  lulling  and 
harmonious  in  the  extreme,  and  producing  much  the  same  effect  as  the  singing  of 
a  nurse  does  upon  a  child.  *^ 

Speaking  of  the  songs  of  the  coast  tribes.  Eyre  says: 

Europeans,  their  property,  presence,  and  habits,  are  frequently  the  subject 
of  these  songs,  and  as  the  natives  possess  great  powers  of  mimicry,  and  are  acute 


PLAYS   OF   SAVAGES  I7 

in  the  observation  of  anything  that  appears  to  them  absurd  or  ludicrous,  the  white 
man  often  becomes  the  object  of  their  jests  or  quizzing.  I  have  heard  songs  of  this 
kind  sung  at  the  dances,  in  a  kind  of  comic  medley,  where  the  different  speakers 
take  up  parts  during  the  breaks  in  the  song,  and  where  a  sentence  or  two  in 
English  is  aptly  introduced,  or  a  quotation  made  from  some  native  dialect,  other 
than  that  of  the  performers.  It  is  usually  conducted  in  the  form  of  question  and 
answer,  and  the  respective  speakers  use  the  language  of  the  persons  they  are 
supposed  to  represent.  The  chorus  is,  however,  still  the  same  repetition  of  one  or 
two  words.  "^^ 

Of  musical  instruments  the  Australians  are  nearly  as  destitute  as  are 
the  Veddahs.  In  some  tribes  sticks  or  boomerangs  are  struck  together  to 
mark  the  time,  sometimes  the  ground  is  struck  with  a  spear  or  piece  of 
wood;  "in  one  particular  ceremony  two  short  and  bluntly  rounded  pieces 
of  wood  are  used,  which  as  they  fall  on  one  another,  each  being  held  in  one 
hand,  produce  a  'clunk,  clunk,'  which  closely  imitates,  as  it  is  supposed  to  do, 
the  sound  of  the  croaking  of  a  particular  frog."5<^  A  rudimentary  trumpet 
is  also  spoken  of,  which  consists  of  a  branch  of  gum  tree  hollowed  out  by 
insects,  and  which  is  used  by  placing  it  to  the  mouth  and  intensifying  the 
sound  by  singing  through  the  cavity.s^ 

The  play  interest  also  finds  expression  in  the  ground-drawings  and  rock- 
paintings,  many  of  which  are  connected  with  their  sacred  ceremonies,  but 
not  all.     Spencer  and  Gillen  say  of  themrs^ 

Passing  now  to  the  geometrical  designs,  it  may  be  noted  that,  so  far  as  their 
form,  and  indeed,  that  of  certain  of  the  zo-omorfic  and  phytomorphic  drawings  is 
concerned,  there  is  no  distinction  between  them  and  certain  of  the  drawings 
associated  with  ceremonial  objects.  They  are  dealt  with  separately  because 
....  the  latter  have  definite  associations  in  regard  to  the  totems,  and  have  what 
the  ordinary  geometrical  rock-drawings  do  not  appear  to  have,  a  definite  signifi- 
cance. By  this  we  mean  that  the  artist  who  drew  them  had  no  definite  purpose 
in  doing  so.  The  natives,  when  asked  the  meaning  of  certain  drawings  such  as 
these,  will  constantly  answer  that  they  are  only  play  work  and  mean  nothing. 

Thus  in  the  dance,  in  music,  and  in  his  paintings,  the  Australian  spells 
out  his  mental  type  in  letters  which  he  who  runs  may  read.  If  anyone 
doubt  the  truth  of  the  inscription,  let  him  compare  it  with  the  following 
character  sketch,  also  from  Spencer  and  Gillen, s^  our  highest  authorities 
on  the  Central  Australian: 

When  times  are  favorable,  the  black  fellow  is  as  light  hearted  as  possible.  He 
has  not  the  slightest  thought  of,  or  care  for,  what  the  morrow  may  bring  forth,  and 
lives  entirely  in  the  present.  At  night  time,  men,  women  and  children  gather, 
round  the  common  camp  fires,  talking  and  singing  their  monotonous  chants, 


1 8  PLAY  ACTIVITIES  OF  ADULT  SAVAGES  AND  CHILDREN 

hour  after  hour,  vintil  one  after  the  other,  they  drop  out  of  the  circle,  going  off  to 
their  different  camps,  and  then  at  length  all  will  be  quiet,  except  for  the  occa- 
sional cry  of  a  child,  who,  as  not  seldom  happens,  rolls  over  into  the  fire,  and  has 

to  be  comforted  or  scolded  into  silence There  is  however  ....  an 

undercurrent  of  anxious  feeling  ....  always  lying  dormant  and  ready  to  be 
called  up  by  any  strange  or  suspicious  sound,  if  he  be  alone,  especially  at  night 
time,  in  the  bush,  but  on  the  other  hand,  just  like  a  child  he  can,  with  ease,  for- 
get anything  unpleasant,  and  enter  perfectly  into  the  enjoyment  of  the  present 
moment. 

SUMMARY 

1.  Somatic  type. — The  somatic  type  of  the  play  characteristics  of  the 
Australian  is  activity  of  the  whole  body,  as  seen  in  the  dance  and  in  the 
trials  of  strength. 

2.  Organization. — The  type  of  organization,  or  the  objective  character- 
istics are: 

(a)  Individual  play;  for  example,  in  cat's-cradle  or  string  games,  and  in 
certain  of  the  dances. 

(b)  The  undefined  group,  as  shown  in  most  of  the  dances  and  in  the 
trials  of  strength. 

3.  Psychological  type. — The  psychological  or  subjective  characteristics 
are: 

(a)  Rhythm,  shown  in  the  beating  of  sticks,  slapping  with  the  hand, 
striking  together  of  boomerangs,  beating  the  ground  with  spears  or  wood, 
in  the  "high-stepping"  dance,  in  singing,  in  repetition  of  words. 

(b)  Spontaneity,  as  shown  in  the  whale  dance,  and  individual  songs. 

(c)  Mimicry  of  animals  and  men,  including  almost  every  animal  or 
stranger  known  to  them. 

(d)  Dramatization  of  events  relating  both  to  their  daily  life  and  to  their 
totemic  ancestors. 

(e)  The  element  of  magic — a  belief  that  these  dramatic  representations 
will  result  in  benefit  to  themselves  or  be  pleasing  to  their  totemic  ancestors. 

(J)  Competition  or  rivalry,  as  appearing  in  their  trials  of  strength,  and 
in  the  dancing  matches  between  tribes, 

(g)  Humor,  burlesque,  and  a  love  for  the  grotesque. 
(h)  Repetition, 

THIRD   GROUP 

With  regard  to  the  play  activities  of  the  Bushmen,  we  are  even  better 
informed  than  in  the  case  of  the  two  preceding  tribes.     Stow  writes  :5o 


PLAYS  OF  SAVAGES  I9 

At  one  time  ....  the  Bushmen  had  many  games,  in  which  they  indulged 
in  their  leisure  hours,  to  diversify  the  dance There  are  still  enough 

T,     ,  rescued  from  oblivion  to  show  that  they  might  be  divided  into 

Bushmen  ,         ,  r     ,.,,,„•,.      . 

three  classes,   of  which  the  foUowmg  may  be  given  as  illus- 
trative specimens: 

I.  The  "Nadro,"  or  disguise.  They  appear  to  have  had  an  almost  passionate 
fondness  for  dressing  themselves  up  in  masquerading  fashion,  in  the  guise  of  some 
animal  or  other,  so  that  it  was  not  only  in  himting  and  war  that  they  simulated  the 
wild  animals,  by  which  they  were  surrounded,  but  even  in  their  amusements, 
their  games,  and  dances. 

One  of  ...  .  the  most  popular  [j»lays]  was  that  in  which  the  older  women 
of  the  horde  indulged,  and  which  was  specially  called  "Nadro."  They  disguised 
themselves  by  fastening  the  head  and  horns  of  some  wild  animal  upon  their  own, 
and  so  painting  and  enveloping  the  rest  of  their  body  in  the  hide  of  the  beast,  that 
they  looked  more  like  some  wild  or  supernatural  monster  than  a  human  being. 
....  This  particular  disguise  was  generally  adopted  in  the  evening,  when  one 
so  dressed  and  carrying  a  small  stick  with  which  to  make  a  rattling  noise,  would 
suddenly  and  imexpectedly  come  upon  the  assembled  group  of  the  horde,  which 
always  had  the  effect  of  startling  the  younger  people,  while  even  the  old  members 
would  in  the  first  impulse  of  the  moment  get  out  of  the  way  of  the  rather  unearthly 
looking  apparition  with  no  small  degree  of  trepidation.  As  the  alarm  subsided, 
it  was  succeeded  by  bursts  of  merriment  at  the  consternation  and  confusion  which 
had  been  occasioned.  They  also  disguised  themselves  in  the  same  manner  in 
some  of  their  grand  masquerade  dances,  when  each  impersonated  some  different 
animal  and  acted  his  or  her  part  accordingly.  The  Australians  and  Eskimos 
also  have  plays  similar  to  this. 

II.  Other  games  were  such  as  required  both  skiU  and  presence  of  mind,  and 
were  generally,  if  not  exclusively,  manly  games.     One  of  these  might  be  termed 

the  training  game,  although  only  experts  would  dare  to  join  in  it Two 

Bushmen,  each  with  a  certain  number  of  arrows,  would  take  up  a  standing,  sitting, 
or  lying  position  opposite  to  one  another,  and  then  at  a  given  signal  let  fly  at  one 
another,  one  after  the  other,  with  as  great  rapidity  as  possible,  each  with  equal 
rapidity  trying  to  avoid  the  shafts  of  his  opponent.  Sometimes  the  arrows  were 
arranged  in  a  row  before  them,  or  as  worn  in  war  or  hunting,  in  a  fillet  bound 
roxmd  the  head.  The  yoimger  and  more  inexperienced  were  matched  one  against 
the  other,  whilst  the  oldest  and  most  proficient  members  of  the  tribe  would  try 
their  skill  upon  one  another.  When  we  consider  that  this  game  was  played,  not 
like  some  modem  tournaments  with  half-severed  and  mock  lances,  but  with 
genuine  poisoned  arrows,  we  may  form  some  idea  of  the  peril  which  accom- 
panied it. 

III.  A  third  class  of  games  also  showed  skill,  but  in  these  it  was  accompanied 

with  a  certain  amount  of  legerdemain One  of  these  became  so  universally 

popular  that  it  has  been  adopted  and  perpetuated  among  other  tribes,  by  whom  it 
is  known  as  Bushman  cards. 


20  PLAY  ACTIVITIES   OF   ADULT   SAVAGES   AND  CHILDREN 

The  following  is  a  description  of  it  as  played  by  the  Basutus: 

Two  or  three  people  sit  side  by  side  or  opposite  each  other,  one  of  them  picks 
up  a  stone  or  small  piece  of  wood,  all  move  their  arms  about  in  an  excited  manner, 
the  one  with  the  small  piece  of  wood  passing  it  with  as  much  rapidity  as  possible 
from  one  hand  to  the  other,  so  as  to  bewilder  the  other  players,  and  then  presents 
his  clenched  hands  to  his  companions  to  guess  where  the  wood  is.  If  the  guesser 
is  mistaken  the  holder  of  the  wood  exclaims  triumphantiy,  "Ua  ya  incha,  kia  ya 
khomo,"  in  a  kind  of  song  or  cadence,  meaning,  "You  eat  the  dog,  I  eat  the  beef." 
In  the  opposite  case,  the  player  declares  himself  vanquished,  when  the  guesser 
touches  the  hand  containing  the  wood,  saying  "Kia  ya  incha,  ua  ya  khomo," 
"I  eat  the  dog,  you  eat  the  beef,"  and  delivers  the  wood  to  his  companion  to  do 
the  same.  The  players  will  sometimes  keep  up  the  game  for  hours  at  their  even- 
ing fires.     The  Bushmen  also  had  a  great  number  of  imitative  dances. 

....  Miss  Lucy  C.  Lloyd  has  given  the  following  description  of  a  game 
of  skill  played  with  a  kind  of  shuttlecock,  i.e.,  with  a  short  stick  with  two  or  three 
feathers  tied  to  its  upper  end  and  weighted  at  its  lower  extremity  by  a  berry  or  a 
button  attached  to  it.     This  is  thrown  into  the  air  and  beaten  with  another  stick 

to  keep  it  up Miss  Lloyd's  Bushman  authorities  assured  her  tiiat  this  is 

one  of  the  old  games  played  by  members  of  their  own  tribe  in  their  own  land. 
This  discovery  is  an  interesting  one  as  tending  to  prove  that  this  popular  game 
of  English  children  is  probably  one  (by  being  thus  known  to  so  primitive  a  race 
as  the  Bushmen)  of  high  antiquity 

Some  of  their  dances  required  considerable  skill,  such  as  that  which  may  be 
called  the  ball-dance.  In  this  a  number  of  women,  from  five  to  ten,  would  form 
a  line  and  face  an  equal  number  in  another  row,  leaving  a  space  of  thirty  or 
fort}'  feet  between  them.  A  woman  at  the  end  of  one  of  these  lines  would  com- 
mence by  throwing  a  roxmd  ball  about  the  size  of  an  orange,  and  made  of  a  root, 
under  her  right  leg  and  across  to  the  woman  opposite  to  her,  who  in  turn  would 
catch  the  ball  and  throw  it  back  in  a  similar  manner  to  the  second  woman  in  the 
first  row;  she  would  return  it  in  a  similar  manner  to  the  second  in  the  second  row, 
and  thus  it  continued  until  all  had  taken  their  turn.  Then  the  women  would 
shift  their  positions  crossing  over  to  the  other  sides,  and  again  continue  in  the 

same  manner  as  before 

Another  ball-dance  was  played  merely  by  the  men.  The  ball  was  made 
expressly  for  this  game  out  of  the  thickest  portion  of  a  hippopotamus'  hide,  cut 
from  the  back  of  the  neck;  this  was  hammered  when  it  was  perfectly  fresh  imtil 
it  was  quite  roimd;  when  finished  it  was  elastic,  and  would  quickly  rebound 
when  thrown  upon  a  hard  surface.  In  this  performance,  a  flat  stone  was  placed 
in  the  center  upon  the  ground,  the  players  or  dancers  standing  around.  One  of 
them  commenced  by  throwing  the  ball  on  the  stone,  when  it  rebounded;  the  next 
to  him  caught  it,  and  immediately  it  was  thrown  again  by  him  upon  the  stone  in 
the  same  manner  as  by  the  leader,  when  it  was  caught  by  the  next  in  succession 
and  so  on,  one  after  the  other,  passing  rapidly  round  the  ring,  until  the  leader  or 
one  of  the  others  would  throw  it  with  such  force  as  to  send  it  flying  high  and  straight 


PLAYS   OF  SAVAGES  21 

up  into  the  air,  when  during  its  ascent  they  commenced  a  series  of  antics,  throwing 
themselves  into  all  kinds  of  positions,  imitating  wild  dogs,  and  like  them  making 
a  noise  "che!  che!  che!"  but  in  the  meantime  watching  the  ball,  which  was 
caught  by  one  of  them  when  he  took  the  place  of  the  leader,  and  the  game  was 

again  renewed 

The  play  was  sometimes  varied  by  two  players  being  matched  against  each 
other,  each  throwing  and  catching  the  ball  alternately,  until  one  of  them  missed  it, 
when  it  was  immediately  caught  by  one  of  those  in  the  outer  ring,  who  at  once  took 
the  place  of  the  one  who  had  made  the  slip,  and  thus  the  play  continued. 

With  respect  to  other  amusements  of  the  Bushmen,  we  find  the  follow- 
ing: 

We  have  already  seen  the  fondness  of  the  Bushmen  for  disguising  themselves 
in  masquerading  dresses,  representing  various  animals,  birds,  and  imaginary 

monsters Beyond  this,  however,  their  powers  of  mimcry  w^ere  wonderfully 

striking,  and  thus  they  were  able  not  only  to  assume  the  appearance,  but  the  action, 
manner,  and  cries  of  the  animal  they  wished  to  personify,  with  extraordinary 
accuracy.  It  was  this  talent  which  enabled  them  to  give  such  variety  to  their 
dances,  an  amusement  of  which  they  were  passionately  fond  and  in  which  they 
indulged  on  every  fitting  occasion.  The  vmiversality  of  the  custom  was  shown 
from  the  fact  that,  in  the  early  days  in  the  center  of  every  village  or  kraal,  or  near 
every  rock  shelter,  and  in  every  great  cave,  there  was  a  large  circular  ring  where 
either  the  ground  or  grass  was  beaten  flat  and  bare,  from  the  frequent  and  oft 
repeated  terpsichorean  exercises.  S9 

They  had  also  a  great  variety  of  dances  in  which  they  indulged  at  new 
moon  and  full  moon  and  at  the  approach  of  the  first  thunderstorm.  There 
were  dances  for  men  alone,  for  women  alone,  for  men  and  women  together. 
There  was  the  hunter's  dance,  the  chain  dance,  the  baboon  dance,  frog 
dance,  bee  dance,  the  dance  of  the  chief,  the  dance  of  blood,  and  a  grand 
national  masquerade  in  which  all  the  participants  represented  different 
birds  and  animals,  and  painted  their  bodies  to  help  out  the  scenic  effect. 
With  these  dances  were  musical  accompaniments,  music  and  words  being 
fitted  to  the  particular  dance.  The  Bushmen  also  evolutionized  their  hunt- 
ing bows  into  a  musical  instrument,  the  remote  ancestor,  possibly,  of  the 
modern  harp,  adding  one  string  after  another  and  then  a  shell  or  gourd 
as  a  resonator,  until  it  served  as  a  fit  accompaniment  for  their  many  songs 
and  dances.  Wallaschek  quotes  Burchell  as  saying  that  mere  words  are 
insufficient  to  describe  the  beauty  of  these  songs  and  dances.  They  must 
be  heard,  they  must  be  participated  in.  From  these  dances  he  derived  as 
much  pleasure  as  did  the  natives,  "  so  quiet  and  orderly  were  they,  no 
rude  laughter,  no  noisy  shouting,  no  coarse,  ribald  wit  was  there.  Through- 
out it  was  a  modest  sociable  amusement Music  softened  all  their 


22  PLAY  ACnvrriES  OF  ADULT  SAVAGES  AND  CHILDREN 

passions,  and  thus  they  lulled  themselves  into  that  mild  and  tranquil  state 
in  which  no  evil  thoughts  approach  the  mind.  The  soft  and  delicate  voices 
of  the  girls,  instinctively  accordant  to  those  of  the  women  and  men,  the 
gentle  clapping  of  the  hands,  the  rattles  of  the  dancers,  and  the  mellow 
sound  of  the  water  drum,  all  harmoniously  attuned  and  keeping  time 
together,  the  peaceful,  happy  countenances  of  the  party,  and  the  cheerful 
light  of  the  fire,  were  circumstances  so  combined  and  fitted  to  produce  the 
most  soothing  effects  on  the  senses,  that  I  acted  as  if  the  hut  had  been  my 
home  and  felt  as  if  I  had  been  one  of  them."  ^3 

SUMMARY 

1.  Somatic  type. — The  somatic  characteristics  of  the  Bushman's  play 
is  activity  of  the  whole  body  as  shown  in  their  gymnastic  dances  and  nearly 
every  one  of  the  amusements  of  which  we  have  any  account. 

2.  Organization. — The  type  of  organization  or  objective  phase  is: 

(a)  Individual  play,  for  example,  mimicry  of  animals. 

(b)  The  undefined  group,  as  in  most  of  the  dances  and  games. 

(c)  The  pair,  as  in  Bushman's  cards. 

(d)  The  double  group  as  in  the  arrow  contest. 

3.  Psychological  type. — The  psychological  or  subjective  characteristics 
are: 

(a)  Rhythm. 

(b)  Mimicry  of  animals. 

(c)  Dramatization  of  events.     • 

(d)  Belief  in  magic. 

(e)  Humor,  burlesque,  and  love  of  the  grotesque. 
(J)  Real  games  as  distinguished  from  mere  play. 
(g)  Games  of  skill  and  competition. 

(h)  One  guessing  game. 

(i)  Since  they  have  an  extensive  mythology,  we  may  be  sure  that  story- 
telling was  one  of  their  pastimes, 
(j)  Repetition. 

FOURTH  GROUP 

The  three  tribes  thus  far  studied  are   representatives  of  the   Old 

World.      We   turn   next   to   the  New  World  to  learn  the  characteristic 

plays  of  the   Yahgans  and   Eskimos.      Of    the    former, 
Yabgans  .  „ 

Fitzroy  says:*" 

Swimming  is  a  favorite  amusement  of  the  Fuegians  during  summer 

Men,  women  and  children  are  excellent  swimmers,  but  they  all  swim  like  dogs. 


PLAYS   OF   SAVAGES  23 

Swinging  between  branches  of  trees  as  our  children  do  is  also  a  favorite 
pastime,  the  ropes  being  made  of  strips  of  sealskin. 

Grosse  speaks  of  the  dramatic  efforts  of  the  Fuegians,*^  some  of  which, 
he  says,  may  be  mimetic  dances.  Like  the  Veddahs,  too,  they  also  dance 
as  an  expression  of  good  will  and  gratitude  for  a  favor  rendered  them,  as 
well  as  when  asking  for  gifts. 

Hyades  and  Deniker^'  state  that  sports  are  especially  practiced  during 
visits  between  different  groups  of  Fuegians.  After  the  visit  is  decided,  at 
least  six  boatloads  of  Indians  depart  together,  carrying  about  forty  of  the 
inhabitants  who  may  volunteer  for  that  purpose.  Arrived  at  the  end  of 
their  voyage,  the  men  disembark,  their  faces  painted,  the  forehead  bound 
with  a  fillet  of  plumes.  They  advance  toward  the  huts  of  their  friends, 
holding  their  harpoons  in  their  hands.  The  Fuegians  visited  hasten  to  meet 
the  newcomers.  One  or  two  of  the  more  elderly  men  advance  to  arrange 
with  the  newcomers  for  lodgment,  etc.  Greetings  are  exchanged  and  the 
edible  berries  are  passed  around. 

They  next  propose  to  give  themselves  up  to  the  wrestling  plays  which 
are  always  very  much  in  favor.  The  play  called  "ka-la-ka"  takes  place 
between  two  natives  placed  in  the  center  of  spectators,  who  without  mixing 
themselves  in  the  action  follow  the  game  with  the  greatest  interest.  The 
players  struggle,  each  seeking  to  raise  his  adversary  and  throw  him  to  the 
ground.  It  is  a  spectacle  which  inflames  the  Fuegians  who  are  always 
prepared  thus  to  try  the  strength  of  their  visitors.  Sometimes  the  players 
become  so  excited  and  the  maneuvers  so  brutal  that  fatal  consequences  result. 

Another  play  is  executed  by  two  ranks  of  natives  holding  one  another 
by  the  neck,  and  marching  toward  one  another  as  they  sing.  At  the 
moment  when  they  come  together  the  players  lower  the  head,  trying  with 
all  their  might  to  break  the  line  of  their  adversaries.  When  one  of  the  lines 
is  broken  the  gaiety  is  at  its  height  by  reason  of  the  confusion  produced 
among  the  players. 

Ball  is  played  with  a  ball  made  from  the  membrane  of  the  foot  of  the 
gull.    The  players  form  a  circle  and  throw  the  ball  from  one  to  the  other. 

They  also  take  great  pleasure  in  counterfeiting  the  cries  of  animals  or 
in  inventing  burlesque  scenes  which  occasion  among  the  spectators  explo- 
sions of  laughter.  *  *  Quels  que  soient  les  jeux  usit^s  les  Fuegiens  y  apportent 
un  tres  vif  int^ret;  ils  en  parlent  beaucoup  le  soir  dans  les  huttes " 

It  is  extremely  unfortunate  that  the  songs  of  the  Yahgans  have  not  been 
preserved,  but  that  they  had  many,  there  can  be  no  doubt.  There  were 
songs  of  vengeance,  and  songs  of  mourning,  medicine  songs  and  songs  for 
amusement.     There  were  songs  to  the  west  wind,  the  north  sky,  the  kelp 


24  PLAY   ACTIVITIES   OF   ADULT   SAVAGES   AND   CHILDREN 

goose,  the  loggerhead  duck,  and  to  many  other  of  their  familiar  birds. 
They  also  enjoyed  hearing  European  music,  and  sometimes  joined  in  the 
songs  of  the  sailors. '^ 

Nearly  every  traveler  who  visited  the  home  of  the  Yahgans,  in  the  days 
which  preceded  civilization,  speaks  of  their  fondness  for  mimicry.  The 
following  from  Darwin  is  typical: 

They  are  excellent  mimics.  As  often  as  we  coughed  or  yawned,  or  made  any 
odd  motion,  they  immediately  imitated  us.  Some  of  our  party  began  to  squint 
and  look  angry;  but  one  of  the  young  Fuegians  (whose  whole  face  was  painted 
black,  excepting  a  white  band  across  his  eyes)  succeeded  in  making  far  more 
hideous  grimaces.  They  could  repeat,  with  perfect  correcmess,  each  word  in  any 
sentence  we  addressed  them,  and  they  remembered  such  words  for  some  time. 
Yet  we  Europeans  all  know  how  diflScult  it  is  to  distinguish  apart  the  sounds  in  a 
foreign  language.  Which  of  us,  for  instance,  could  follow  an  American  Indian 
through  a  sentence  of  more  than  three  words?  ....  The  Australians  likewise 
....  imitate  the  gait  of  any  man,  so  that  he  can  be  recognized."* 

Of  the  more  intellectual  ple^-sures  of  the  Yahgans,  Spears,  who,  hovv^ever, 
is  a  superficial  observer,  writes: 

The  missionaries  say  that  within  the  limits  of  their  knowledge,  they  were 
ready  and  logical  thinkers.     Sarcastic  remarks  and  cynical  observations  abounded 

in  their  fireside  conversations,  as  well  as  flashes  of  humor He  delighted  in 

what  civilized  people  call  the  higher  pleasures,  the  joys  of  good  stories,  witty 
sayings,  quick  repartee,  and  he  had  almost  unlimited  opportunity  for  cultivating 
the  faculties  which  gave  him  greatest  pleasure. ss 

Evidently,  however,  they  pursue  these  worthy  pleasures  in  a  manner 
characteristically  their  own,  for  Snow  writes  of  them: 

They  are  loud  and  furious  talkers,  and  I  soon  found  it  was  impossible  to  get 
myself  listened  to  in  any  ordinary  way.    Accordingly,  on  one  particular  occasion 
when  their  noise  was  deafening,  I  took  my  speaking  trumpet,  and  shouted  louder 
than  they.     This  answered.     It  made  them  delighted  with  my  supposed  skill, 
and  it  showed  them  that  the  white  man  could  be  equal  to  themselves ^* 

SUMMARY 

1.  Somatic  type. — The  somatic  characteristic  of  the  Yahgan  play  is 
activity  of  the  whole  body,  for  example,  in  swimming,  swinging,  and 
dancing,  in  the  fighting  plays,  and  in  ball  games. 

2.  Organization. — The  types  of  organization  or  objective  character- 
istics are: 

(a)  Individual  play. 

(b)  Play  in  pairs, 

(c)  The  double  or  matched  group. 


PLAYS  OF  SAVAGES  25 

3.  Psychological  type. — The  psychological  or  subjective  characteristics 
are: 

(a)  Rhythm. 

(6)  Mimicry. 

(c)  Dramatization  of  events. 

{d)  Humor,  burlesque,  and  sarcasm. 

{e)  Games  as  distinguished  from  mere  play. 

(/)  Games  of  skill  and  competition,  as  shown  in  the  ball  games. 

{g)  Games  of  conquest,  for  example,  the  wrestling  matches. 

{h)  Story-telling. 

{i)  Repetition. 


FIFTH  GROUP 

We  come  last  of  all  to  the  Eskimos.    And  here  we  discovered  such  a 
fund  of  information  of  undoubted  authenticity  that  it  seemed  necessary 
to  treat  it  by  the  somewhat  more  graphic  method  of  the 
chart.    We  accordingly  arranged  a  list  of  two  hundred  and 
fifty-five  amusements  of  various  kinds,  practiced  by  adult  Eskimos,  exclud- 
ing all  those  played  by  children  only.     Wherever  the  same  play  is  men- 
tioned more  than  once,  it  was  entered  on  the  chart  more  than  once,  pro- 
vided it  was  mentioned  by  different  authors,  or  by  the  same 
of  Phfl  f  author  as  having  been  witnessed  in  different  localities.     The 

justification  for  this  repetition  is  found  in  the  belief  of  the 
writer  that  the  mere  fact  of  one  game  being  observed  more  frequently  than 
another  implies  that  it  is  a  favorite  game,  and  therefore  that  it  contains 
just  those  characteristics  which  indicate  most  clearly  the  mental  type  of  the 
people  who  are  attracted  by  them. 

In  the  first  column  of  the  chart  the  reference  to  the  book  or  article  in 
which  the  play  is  mentioned  or  described  was  recorded.  The  second 
column  gave  the  name  of  the  author  quoted,  the  third  named  the  locality 
where  the  play  was  observed,  and  the  fourth  gave  a  list  of  the  plays.  Then 
followed  an  analysis  of  each  of  the  plays,  in  which  their  most  pronounced 
characteristics  were  indicated  by  crosses  placed  on  the  same  horizontal  line, 
under  the  rubric  corresponding  to  that  particular  characteristic.  These 
elements,  which,  combined,  determine  the  peculiarities  of  the  play  impulse, 
were  then  grouped  under  three  general  headings:  (i)  Somatic  Character- 
istics, (2)  Type  of  Organization  or  Objective  Characteristics,  (3)  Psycho- 
logical Type,  or  Subjective  Characteristics. 


26  PLAY  ACTIVITIES  OF  ADULT  SAVAGES  AND  CHILDREN 

By  Somatic  Characteristics  (columns  v-ix)  it  was  intended  to  indicate 
whether  the  play  brings  into  activity  the  muscles  of  the  whole  body,  or  only 
parts  of  it,  and  whether  the  activity  is  of  the  more  violent 
^  .    .  type,  for  example,  the  "tug  of  war,"  which  indicates  that 

the  muscular  activity  itself  is  the  chief  source  of  enjoyment 
in  the  play;  or  whether  the  more  quiet  type  of  exercise  predominates,  which 
usually  indicates  one  of  two  things,  namely,  either  that  the  play  is  of  the 
extremely  childish  type  which  goes  with  undeveloped  muscles,  not  yet 
strong  enough  to  bear  violent  exercise,  or  else  that  the  muscular  exercise  is 
furnishing  only  a  part  of  the  pleasure,  while  perceptual  or  imaginative  or 
constructive  activity  furnishes  the  other  part.  Making  faces,  and  such  games 
as  tops  and  "buzz,"  would  be  examples  of  the  first  kind;  the  dramatic 
plays  and  the  singing  and  dancing,  performed  for  the  entertainment  of  an 
audience,  illustrate  the  second. 

In  column  vi,  those  plays  involving  parts  of  the  body,  rather  than  the 
whole,  were  grouped,  as  representing  a  somewhat  more  specialized  type 
of  play,  but  an  analysis  of  the  group  shows  that  some  of  these  really  belong 
to  the  whole  body  group,  inasmuch  as  the  muscles  of  the  entire  body  are 
tense  and  co-operative  throughout  the  play,  even  though  the  chief  activity 
may  be  located  in  the  limbs.  Take,  for  instance,  the  arm-pulling,  pulling 
of  arms  and  legs  together,  striking  an  opponent  upon  the  back  until  he  can 
endure  the  blows  no  longer,  foot-pulling,  stick-lifting  (while  another  tries  to 
hold  it  down),  kyak  racing,  umiak  racing — none  of  these  have  as  an  end 
the  accomplishment  of  any  delicate  muscular  work,  or  the  securing  of  the 
fine  adjustment  of  the  arm  or  other  muscles.  A  second  division  of  the 
plays  of  column  vi  represents  plays  the  specific  purpose  of  which  is  the 
sensory  effect.  The  "buzz,"  top,  singing,  etc.,  are  representatives  of  this 
class.  These  and  the  dice  games  will  be  discussed  elsewhere.  But  there 
is  another  subdivision  of  this  group  which  does  interest  us  just  here.  It 
includes  the  following  games:  juggling  games,  in  which  three  or  more 
pebbles  are  tossed  one  after  the  other,  one  being  caught  and  tossed  again, 
while  the  others  are  still  in  the  air;  another  game  in  which  the  ball  is 
thrown  to  the  ground  by  the  right  hand,  caught  in  the  left,  thrown  with  the 
left,  and  caught  in  the  right,  etc.;  still  another  in  which  the  ball  is  thrown 
with  one  foot  to  the  other;  shooting  at  a  mark;  throwing  spears  at  a  mark; 
a  game  similar  to  cup-and-ball,  in  which  a  piece  of  ivory,  or  more  often  the 
skull  of  some  animal,  is  tossed  and  caught  in  some  of  its  perforations  upon  a 
point  of  wood  or  ivory;  drumming,  which  belongs  to  both  the  sensory  and 
muscular  group;  a  dart  game  in  which  the  object  is  to  pierce  with  a  dart  a 
perforation  made  in  a  piece  of  ivory,  suspended  from  the  top  of   the  iglu; 


PLAYS   OF   SAVAGES  27 

violin  (introduced  by  the  whites  and  mentioned  but  once) ;  a  fish  game,  in 
which  an  ivory  fish  with  a  hole  in  one  end  is  caught  by  a  hook;  a  second 
dart  game,  in  which  the  arrow-shaped  dart  is  caught  in  the  meshes  of  a  net; 
carvings  in  bone,  ivory,  and  wood;  a  throwing  game  in  which  the  attempt 
is  made  to  toss  rings  of  grass  so  deftly  that  they  will  be  made  to  fall  upon 
and  encircle  a  stake  placed  upright  in  the  ground  and  at  some  distance  from 
the  thrower ;  tossing  sticks  so  as  to  make  them  stand  upright  in  the  center  of 
a  spool-shaped  block  of  wood;  jackstraws  and  jackstones,  both  probably 
introduced.  In  all  of  these  we  have  a  type  of  muscular  activity  which  does 
not  properly  belong  to  the  soma  as  a  whole,  but  to  a  specialized  part  of  it. 
With  these,  success  in  the  game  depends  upon  delicate  co-ordination  of  the 
muscles  of  the  hand  and  arm — a  careful  measuring  of  the  amount  of  force 
to  be  expended,  so  as  to  make  it  exactly  correspond  to  the  distance  to  be 
covered.  Here  then,  we  have  an  advance  upon  the  Veddah  and  Australian 
type  of  play,  which  at  least  suggests  the  possibility  that  Eskimos  possess  a 
more  finely  organized  nervous  system,  and  muscular  machinery  under 
better  control  than  is  the  case  with  Veddahs  and  Australians  (see  p.  11). 
The  same  conclusion  with  respect  to  superiority  of  development  is  again 
suggested  in  the  fact  that  with  the  Eskimos,  both  in  plays  requiring  vio- 
lent exercise  and  in  the  "quiet  plays"  there  is  a  far  greater  range  of  play 
activities,  both  in  kind  and  number,  than  in  the  other  groups  studied. 
The  following  list,  for  example,  of  ** parlor  games"  is  no  mean  heritage  for 
the  social  life  of  a  savage,  hunting  people,  living  in  a  region  so  desolate  and 
cold  and  unproductive  that  it  is  comparatively  exempt  from  the  incur- 
sions and  outrages  of  so-called  civilized  peoples:  "buzz,"  dice  games, 
story-telling,  cup-and-ball,  dominoes  (introduced  by  whites),  singing, 
carving  in  bone,  wood,  and  ivory,  the  roulette  gambling  games,  mimicry, 
making  faces,  dancing,  cat's-cradle,  checkers  (introduced  by  whites  and 
mentioned  but  once  or  twice),  ball- juggling,  tops,  dramatic  recitations — 
these  are  some  of  the  devices  by  which  the  savage  host  and  his  guests 
while  away  the  long  hours  of  the  polar  night. 

By  "Organization,"  (columns  x-xviii),  was  meant  the  tendency  to  con- 
ventionalize a  favorite  amusement  and  to  crystallize  it  into  permanent 

form,  which,  in  time,  becomes  "organized,"  i.e.,  has  fixed 
Second  rules  to  which  the  players  conform.     It  has  then  become  a 

Hiihrip  "game"  as  distinguished  from  mere  "play,"  and  sometimes 

becomes  a  game  of  so  great  complexity  that  only  an  expert 
can  get  the  greatest  amount  of  pleasure  from  it.  The  most  notable  example 
of  such  a  highly  organized  play  of  the  somatic  type  is  found,  perhaps,  in  the 
American  national  game  of  baseball,  the  description  of  which  in  the  Young 


a8  PLAY  ACTIVITIES  OF  ADULT  SAVAGES  AND  CHILDREN 

People's  Cyclopedia  of  Games  and  Sports''^  occupies  tv^'enty  and  one-half 
pages,  including  an  enumeration  of  fifty-three  rules  governing  the  conduct 
of  the  game.  Chess,  with  twenty-two  rules  and  elaborate  explanations, 
might  represent  the  more  psychological  type  of  highly  organized  game. 
i'  We  speak  of  civilized  nations  and  societies  as  being  "highly  organized," 
and  they  undoubtedly  are;  but  if  extreme  organization  in  general  is  a 
characteristic  of  advanced  civilization,  little  or  simple  organization  might 
naturally  he  expected  as  a  characteristic  of  slightly  civilized  societies,  and 
this  is  also  apparently  true. 

But  we  are  also  told  that  play  is  a  reflection  of  the  instinctive,  traditional, 
and  conventional  activities  of  a  people,  and  we  may  assume,  probably, 
without  fear  of  the  statement  being  challenged,  that  the  people  living  the 
more  complex  life  will  have  a  tnore  highly  developed  repertoire  of  amuse- 
ments. It  seems  likewise  probable  that  the  unorganized  form  of  play, 
without  rules,  is  more  primitive  and  elementary  in  type  than  the  organized 
and  conventionalized  and  regulated  form  of  games.  Now  if  the  above 
statements  be  true,  we  may  find  in  a  comparison  of  the  simpler  and  more 
complex  forms,  and  in  the  types  of  organization  of  play  activities  which 
represent  the  spontaneous  and  voluntary  reactions  of  the  participants,  a  basis 
of  comparison  with  respect  to  the  psychical  development  of  our  fivefold  group; 
and  likewise  a  similar  basis  with  respect  to  phylogenetic  and  ontogenetic 
comparison. 

We  must  not  assume,  however,  that  because  primitive  forms  of  play  are 
retained  in  use,  the  people  who  play  them  are  therefore  necessarily  primitive. 
Among  savage  and  civilized  peoples  alike  it  will  always  be  desirable  to  have 
at  command  games  simple  enough  for  all  to  enjoy  who  may  happen  to  be 
in  the  company,  if  the  company  be  a  heterogeneous  one.  Only  the  selected 
group  will  care  for  the  highly  specialized  games.  For  this  reason  the 
primitive  games  will  always  be  retained,  even  in  the  highly  civilized  coun- 
tries. As  a  matter  of  fact,  what  we  really  find  is  that  a  highly  civilized 
people  has  ten  or  perhaps  a  hundred  simple  games  where  a  savage  race  has 
but  one.  What  may  be  assumed,  however,  with  certainty,  as  we  believe,  is, 
that  if  among  any  given  people  there  are  only  extremely  simple  plays,  of  the 
cat's-cradle  or  roulette  type,  for  example,  it  is  because  there  are  ofily  simple- 
minded  players,  or  at  least  but  few  of  any  other  kind.  On  the  other  hand, 
if,  in  addition  to  these  plays,  there  are  others  of  a  complex  type,  it  is  because 
some  of  the  people  have  sufl&cient  intellectual  capacity  to  enjoy  them.  The 
plays  that  are  left  after  the  childish  plays  have  been  excluded — they  are  the 
ones  which  will  have  a  story  to  tell  us  concerning  the  people  whose  tastes 
they  represent.     Upon  the  evidence  which  they  furnish  and  upon  the  relation 


PLAYS   OF   SAVAGES  29 

which  they  hear  to  the  former  group,  we  may,  perhaps,  base  some  ultimate 
conclusions  regarding  psychical  development. 

It  is  with  this  analyzing  and  sifting  process  in  mind,  then,  that  the 
term  "Type  of  Organization"  was  made  a  second  rubric  on  our  chart  of 
Eskimo  play,  while  under  it  were  included  several  subdivisions,  whose 
function  was  to  represent  the  various  degrees  of  difference,  or  variation 
in  form,  which  this  process  of  organization  or  differentiation  may  take  on. 
These  subdivisions  are: 

1.  "Individual  Plays"  (column  xi),  characterized  by  moderate  motor 
activity,  and  little  or  perhaps  no  organization  and  no  co-operation,  cat's- 
cradle,  for  example,  "buzz,"  and  top,  and  the  impromptu  songs  and  dances. 
They  are  plays,  rather  than  games.  Some  of  them  involve  skill,  as  carving, 
drawing,  and  various  feats  with  the  kyak,  and  when  highly  developed  may 
represent  the  highest  art  of  any  people;  but  with  our  primitive  folk,  these 
plays,  whether  they  require  skill  or  not,  have  either  repetition  and  rhythm — 
a  regulated  form  of  repetition — or  imitation,  as  predominant  and  very 
marked  characteristics.  All  the  dancing,  singing,  and  drumming  entertain- 
ments are  very  strongly  characterized,  both  by  repetition  and  rhythm.  The 
"buzz,"  pebble-juggling,  cup-and-ball,  top,  bull-roarer,  hoop-rolling,  tossing 
a  ball  into  the  air  for  the  purpose  of  catching  it,  tossing  a  snowball  from  one 
foot  to  another,  are  almost  purely  repetitive.  Carvings,  drawings,  mimicry, 
story-telling,  pantomime,  and  cat's-cradle  are  imitative,  and  usually  require 
more  skill  than  the  purely  repetitive  plays. 

2.  The  "Undefined  Group"  (column  xiii),  characterized  by  a  slight 
degree  of  both  organization  and  co-operation.  A  small  sub-group  under 
this  rubric,  with  the  heading,  "One  and  a  Group,"  indicating  that  one 
person  is  the  chief  actor,  while  the  others  take  a  secondary  position,  differed 
from  the  preceding  group  of  "Individual  Plays"  only  in  the  fact  that  in  the 
latter  case  the  individual  has  an  admiring  audience,  as,  for  example,  in  the 
drum  songs  and  story-telling,  the  members  of  which  sometimes  join  with 
him  in  responses  of  some  sort.  The  elements  of  social  feeling  and  co-opera- 
tion make  it  a  slightly  more  advanced  type  than  the  first  group,  though  it  is 
still  play,  not  games.  Imitation  is  a  very  marked  feature.  This  group 
might,  perhaps,  be  called  perceptual  play. 

3.  In  the  "Homogeneous"  group,  however,  were  placed  such  games  as 
the  following:  tossing  ball  (from  one  to  another),  the  dice  games,  shooting 
at  a  mark,  foot-racing,  spear-throwing,  carrying  weights,  and  other  contests 
of  strength,  the  roulette  gambling  games,  the  mock  hunt,  masquerades, 
cup-and-ball,  leapfrog  (introduced  by  whites),  (toy)  fishing,  archery 
games,  throwing  contests,  one  or  two  ball  games,  blind-man's-buff,  hide- 


30  PLAY  ACTIVITIES  OF  ADULT  SAVAGES  AND  CHILDREN 

and-seek,  toss  on  a  walrus  skin,  tag,  spinning  (on  a  block  of  ice).  The 
games  under  "Double  Pair"  (column  xii)  differed  from  these  only  in 
limitation  of  numbers.  They  were  finger  tracking  (in  pairs),  one  ball 
game  (for  women),  one  game  of  tag.  Repetition  appears  about  as  fre- 
quently in  this  group  as  in  the  previous  one,  but  it  is  not  now  the  repetition 
of  one's  own  act,  as  with  tops  or  making  faces,  or  of  one's  own  words  and 
tones,  as  in  singing,  or  of  motions,  as  in  the  dance;  it  is  rather,  speaking 
generally,  a  repetition  of  the  act  of  some  other  person,  who  happened  to 
start  the  game.  Everyone  playing  does  the  same  thing  as  the  others,  either 
simultaneously  or  successively.  It  is  repetition  a  little  more  dissociated 
from  self  than  is  the  case  in  the  first  group,  while  rhythm  takes  a  very 
subordinate  place.  But  the  repetition  here  indicated  is  not  mere  repetition. 
Something  else  has  come  in  to  give  to  the  play  an  additional  zest.  Each 
player  not  only  tries  to  do,  but  to  do  as  skilfully  as  possible,  hence  the  term 
applied  to  such  plays — "games  of  skill."  The  player  consciously  trains 
himself  by  repetition  and  effort  to  do  better  and  better.  In  the  first  group 
the  act  itself  was  all-absorbing.  Now  the  manner  of  doing  it  has  become 
quite  as  much  a  matter  of  attention  as  the  act  itself. 

Moreover,  in  many  of  the  games  still  another  element  appears,  namely, 
the  desire  not  only  to  do  skilfully,  but  to  measure  one's  strength  with  that 
of  others  in  the  group,  and  to  do  better  than  anyone  else  can  do.  That  is, 
rivalry,  which  scarcely  appeared  at  all  in  the  previous  group,  now  begins 
to  be  an  important  element  in  the  play.  Motor  activity  is  also  a  character- 
istic of  nearly  every  one  of  the  games,  and  most  are  games,  not  mere  unor- 
ganized play.  It  will  be  seen,  also,  that  most  are  more  complex  than  the 
characteristic  "Individual  Plays." 

4.  Under  the  heading  "Double  Group"  (column  xiv),  was  placed  a 
list  of  games — all  games — in  which  organization  is  still  more  apparent. 
Two  undefined  groups  play  against  each  other.  This  means  that  the 
players  must  not  only  abide  by  the  rules  of  the  game,  but  they  must  act 
together.  Social  feeling  has  developed  into  conscious  co-operation. 
Various  kinds  of  ball  games  seem  to  be  typical  of  the  group,  being  mentioned 
ten  times.  Three  games  of  tug-of-war  appear,  one  of  them  a  religious 
game,  in  which  the  two  sides  struggle  to  determine  what  kind  of  season  shall 
prevail;  umiak  racing;  one  ring  game,  in  which  two  groups  of  players  form 
rings  by  taking  hold  of  hands,  each  group  vying  with  the  other  in  racing 
for  a  distant  goal,  meanwhile  revolving  about  the  center  of  its  own  circle ; 
chorus  singing  in  two  parts  (belonging  more  properly  to  the  homogeneous 
group);  singing  combats,  in  which  two  individuals  are  the  chief  actors  but 
are  supported  by  their  friends.     These  complete  the  list.     In  most  of 


PLAYS  OF  SAVAGES  3 1 

these  the  dominant  characteristics  are  simultaneous  repetition,  rivalry  or 
competition,  and  co-operation. 

In  column  xii,  a  new  element  of  organization  appeared,  namely,  limita- 
tion of  numbers.  Under  "Pair,"  and  ''Double  Pair,"  are  found  the  follow- 
ing games:  wrestling,  finger  tracking,  arm  tracking,  tracking  of  both  arms 
and  legs,  foot  pushing,  the  greeting  ordeals  of  striking,  wrestling,  and 
knife-testing,  boxing,  rope- jumping  (in  pairs),  checkers  (introduced), 
head-pushing,  hurdle-racing,  foot-pulling,  neck-pulling,  stick-lifting  (while 
another  tries  to  hold  it  down),  tug-of-war  (by  two),  cards  (introduced  by 
whites,  and  mentioned  but  once),  battering-ram,  two  ball  games,  twin  tag 
(two  persons  tied  together  race  with  two  others).  It  will  be  noticed  that  in 
these  games  the  element  of  imitation  falls  far  into  the  background  as  a  motive. 
Repetition  of  acts  remains,  but  added  to  it  is  "accommodation,"  i.e.,  to  a 
changing  situation.  Moreover,  the  games  have  an  intensity  which  did  not 
appear  before.  It  is  not  enough  now  to  surpass  in  skill ;  the  opponent  must 
be  crushed,  conquered. 

5.  Next  was  listed  what  we  have  called  the  "  Organized  Game,"  because 
it  approached  so  closely  in  its  characteristics  to  what  is  termed  organization 
in  human  societies,  that  is,  games  in  which  there  is  not  only  co-operation  but 
differentiation  of  parts.  Two  are  found  which  in  a  simple  way  suggest  this 
class — battering-ram,  in  which  two  men  take  upon  their  shoulders  two  other 
men,  their  muscles  stiffened,  so  as  to  remain  in  a  horizontal  position,  when 
the  opposing  pairs  make  repeated  rushes  at  each  other,  until  one  pair  suc- 
ceeds in  knocking  the  other  down.     The  second  game  is  thus  described: 

This  game  is  played  at  any  season  by  men  and  women  divided  into  equal 
parties,  which  are  subdivided  into  pairs.  Then  a  designated  player  starts  oflf, 
pursued  by  the  others,  the  players  on  the  opposite  side  trying  to  overtake  and 
touch  him  before  he  can  touch  the  mate  he  was  given  from  his  own  party.  This 
mate  strives  to  get  within  reach  of  his  companion,  the  opposite  side,  meanwhile, 
using  every  effort  to  interfere  between  the  two  by  running  after  the  first  and 
hindering  the  latter.  If  the  player  succeeds  in  touching  his  mate  before  he  is 
touched,  he  wins,  and  another  pair  of  nmners  come  out  from  his  side.  If  he  is 
touched  first  by  one  of  his  opponents,  he  loses,  and  a  pair  of  runners  come  out 
from  among  them  and  take  his  place.-*' 

It  would  seem,  perhaps,  that  the  various  football  games  and  hockey 
ought  to  come  under  this  heading,  but  so  far  as  we  have  been  able  to  find 
from  any  of  the  descriptions  given,  these  games,  as  played  by  the  Eskimos, 
are  simply  two  unorganized  groups  of  unlimited  numbers  playing  against 
each  other  without  captains,  and  without  rules,  except  of  the  simplest  sort. 
That  this  is  the  method  pursued  is  suggested,  at  least,  by  occasional  remarks 
of  the  writers  describing  them,  that  "football  is  played  by  young  men  and 


32 


PLAY  ACTIVITIES  OF  ADULT  SAVAGES  AND  CHILDREN 


Characteristics  of 
Individual  Play 
(Column  XI) 


children,"  or  "men,  women,  and  children  engage  in  the  football  games," 
which  could  not  be  the  case  if  the  game  were  played  with  regulations  and 
with  limited  numbers,  as  in  the  American  game  of  organized  football. 

A  more  condensed  form  of  statement  regarding  the  various  character- 
istics of  all  the  various  groups  described  under  "Type  of  Organization," 
might  be  expressed  as  follows: 

SUGGESTIVE  SUMMARY 

Motor  activity  (moderate). 

Successive  repetition  of  one's  own  act,  i.e., 

imitation  of  self. 
Rhythm. 

Sensory  effects  the  chief  aim. 
No  co-operation. 
Unorganized  play,  not  games. 

Motor  activity  (marked). 

Successive  repetition  of  another's  act. 

Individual  competition. 

Play  subordinated  to  games. 

Imitation  of  self  declining. 

Social  feeling  stronger,  e.g.,  entertainment  of 
groups  in" play,"  as  in  singing. 

Rivalry  the  aim  in  "games." 

Self -training  for  skill. 

Slight  organization  and  some  co-operation. 

Effort. 

Greater  complexity  of  type. 

Sensori-motor  co-ordination  for  definite  ends 
— a  fixed  problem  in  games,  e.g.,  attain- 
ment of  definite  standard  through  definite 


2.  Characteristics  of 
Undefined  Group 
(Column  XIII) 


Characteristics  of 
Double  Group 
(Column  XIV) 


Motor  activity (  very  marked). 

SimtUtaneous  rejjetition. 

Social  feeling  developed  into  marked  co-opera- 
tion. 

Stronger  organization. 

Games,  not  play. 

Effort  strong. 

Group,  not  individual  competition  the  aim. 

Greater  complexity  of  problem. 

Sensori-motor  adjustment  to  a  changing 
problem,  i.e.,  "accommodation"  for  the 
sake  of  co-operation. 


PLAYS   OF   SAVAGES  33 


Motor  activity  (intense). 

Simultaneous  repetition. 

-,  \  Play  rather  than  games 

Characteristics  of  »  ,,  .       . 


Pair  and  Double  Pair 
(Column  XII) 


Not  co-operation,  but  conquest  the  aim. 
Effort  strenuous. 
Limitation  of  numbers. 
Strength  and  endurance  tested. 
Adjustment  to  a  changing  situation. 


Great  motor  activity. 

Repetition  less  marked. 

^  \  Co-operation  necessary. 

Characteristics  of  a  ^  , 

^  ^  )  Games — no  play. 

Organized  Group  /  ^  ^.  :      ,      . 

(C  W^  1  ^^^P  competition  the  aim. 

Increased  complexity  in  problem. 

Adjustment  to  constantly  changing  situation. 

Slight  differentiation  oj  parts. 

We  might  now  expect  to  see  the  process  of  organization  carried  one 
step  farther  and  to  find  games  in  which  organized  rather  than  homo- 
geneous groups  play  against  each  other,  in  which  the  parts  are  so  much 
diflFerentiated  as  to  require  limitation  of  numbers  for  each  group,  and  in 
which  the  problem  has  become  so  complex  so  to  necessitate  a  leader  or 
captain  or  chief  to  direct  the  movements  of  the  game.  We  should  then 
have  the  typical  ''Team  Game"  (column  xvi).  But  here  we  look  in  vain 
to  find  a  single  entry  upon  our  chart.  Does  it  mean  that  stich  power  of 
organization  is  lacking  on  the  part  of  the  savage  tribes  ?    (See  p.  12.) 

In  this  study  of  the  elements  of  organization,  and  in  their  relations  to 
each  other,  we  get  glimpses  of  the  genetic  phases  of  play  activities — various 
sequences  in  progression,  which  may  be  expressed,  for  example,  as  follows: 

I.  (i)  An  individual  unit;  (2)  a  homogeneous  group;  (3)  an  organized 
group;  (4)  a  more  highly  organized  group;  (5)  division  of  labor. 

II.  (i)  Sensory  plays;  (2)  perceptual  plays,  i.e.,  sensation  in  relation; 
(3)  judgment  of  concrete  relations;   (4)  judgment  of  abstract  relations. 

III.  (i)  Motor  activity  controlled  by  stimulus;  (2)  motor  activity  under 
voluntary  control;  (3)  motor  activity  regulated  and  made  conformable  to 
activities  of  other  members  of  the  social  group,  i.e.,  under  social  control. 

IV.  (i)  Repetition  of  self -activity;  (2)  repetition  regulated,  i.e.,  rhythm; 
(3)  repetition  of  another's  activity,  i.e.,  imitation;  (4)  repetition  with 
adaptation,  i.e.,  "accommodation";  (5)  repetition  subordinated  to  ''accom- 
modation.^^ 

V.  (i)  Action  motivated  by  sensory  pleasure;   (2)  action  motivated  by 


34  PLAY  ACTIVITIES  OF  ADULT  SAVAGES  AND  CHILDREN 

social  appreciation;  (3)  action  motivated  by  individual  aggrandizement; 
(4)  action  motivated  by  aggrandizement  of  the  group. 

VI.  (i)  Action  isolated  with  reference  to  others;  (2)  action  brought 
into  relation  to  volition  of  others;  (3)  action  for  the  purpose  of  excelling 
others;   (4)  action  for  the  purpose  of  co-operating  with  others. 

With  respect  to  somatic  characteristics,  we  find  activity  extremely 
characteristic  of  every  stage  of  development. 

Columns  xvii  and  xviii  served  in  a  measure  as  a  counter-study  for 
columns  x  and  xi,  making  as  they  did  a  very  similar  comparison  from  a 
slightly  different  point  of  view.  In  these  two  columns,  all  the  unorganized 
plays  were  grouped  together,  and  all  the  games  were  grouped  together  into 
columns  by  themselves,  thus  showing  the  relation,  in  numbers,  of  plays  to 
games.  They  confirmed  the  results  of  the  previous  study,  in  showing  that 
while  the  number  of  games  was  great  as  compared  with  the  other  tribes 
studied,  the  number  of  plays  was  much  greater.  The  columns,  then, 
which  under  the  first  two  rubrics  are  thickly  studded  with  crosses  are  those 
which  indicate  activity  of  the  whole  body,  "Quiet"  play,  characterized 
by  repetition  and  rhythm,  i.e.,  singing,  dancing,  poetry,  and  drumming, 
"Individual"  play,  and  play  of  the  "Unorganized"  t)^e. 

It  has  become  apparent,  perhaps,  from  the  discussion  of  the  first  and 
second  rubrics,  that  the  "Type  of  Organization"  is  only  a  mental  type 
after  all.  Yet  there  are  some  characteristics  in  which  the 
Third  psychological  elements  are  more  apparent  to  the  casual 

■p  ,    .  observer.     Coiild  we  dissociate  from  each  other  the  psycho^ 

logical  elements  in  all  the  plays,  and  regroup  them,  putting 
each  type  in  separate  columns,  we  might  get  a  graphic  representation,  perhaps, 
of  the  relative  frequency  with  which  each  occurs,  and,  further,  we  should 
have  added  an  important  clue  to  the  understanding  of  the  psychology  of 
these  savage  peoples.  Such  was  the  problem  attempted  under  the  third 
general  rubric,  "Psychological  Characteristics"  (columns  xix-xxxi). 

Of  repetition  we  have  already  spoken  as  entering  in  one  form  or  another 
into  almost  every  play.  What  other  features  appeal  most  strongly  to  these 
adult  Eskimo  minds?  Mere  stimulation  of  the  senses,  motor,  auditory, 
visual,  or  tactual  ?  rhythm,  dramatic  imitation,  the  acquirement  of  skill, 
the  love  of  the  ludicrous,  competition  and  rivalry,  the  fascinations  of  games 
of  chance  and  of  gambling,  the  supposed  test  of  character  furnished  in  the 
ordeal,  the  victories  of  courtship,  the  exercise  of  purely  intellectual  powers, 
the  expression  of  religious  tendencies  ? 

Each  of  these  suggestions  was  made  the  heading  of  a  column,  and  under 
each  heading,  in  most  cases,  several  subheads  served  further  to  analyze  the 


PLAYS   OF   SAVAGES  35 

characteristics  of  the  various  plays,  as  well  as  to  show  the  preferences  of 
the  players.  Where  several  important  elements  entered  into  a  play,  as, 
for  example,  somatic  activity,  rhythm,  and  competition,  an  equal  number 
of  entries  was  made.  Indeed,  the  number  and  variety  of  elements  involved 
in  the  play — that  is,  its  complexity — proved  to  be  a  fairly  good  indication 
of  the  higher  or  lower  character  of  the  type. 

The  first  thing  which  impressed  one  in  looking  at  the  chart  was  the 
tremendous  emphasis  which  sensory  effects,  motor,  visual,  auditory,  or 
tactual,  have  in  the  play  of  the  people.  We  find  a  fairly  constant  succession 
of  crosses  in  all  four  of  the  columns.  These  results  are,  perhaps,  not  sur- 
prising, in  view  of  the  fact  that  sensory  elements  enter  so  largely  into  aU 
play.  But  what  may,  perhaps,  furnish  an  element  of  real  surprise  to  one 
who  has  given  no  thought  to  the  matter  is  that  the  effort  to  excel,  the  attain- 
ment of  "skill,"  either  in  strength,  endurance,  ability,  accuracy,  imitation, 
memory,  perception,  or  good-natured  deception,  has  an  equally  prominent 
place  (column  xxiv). 

Attention  has  already  been  called  to  the  fact  that  repetition,  either  of 
one's  own  act  or  of  that  of  another,  is  an  almost  constant  element  in  all 
amusements  mentioned. 

"Rhythm"  (column  xx)  and  "Dramatization"  (column  xxi),  were  also 
largely  represented,  but  probably  not  so  generously  as  they  deserve,  inas- 
much as  many  authors  say  in  a  general  way  that  the  Eskimos  are  pas- 
sionately fond  of  burlesque,  humor,  singing,  drumming,  mimicry,  or 
mimetic  dances,  without  making  a  statement  sufi&ciently  definite  to  war- 
rant an  entry  on  the  chart. 

The  column  headed  "Ludicrous  Effects"  (column xxiii),  indicates  that 
the  Eskimos  are  certainly  not  wanting  in  an  appreciation  of  pure  fun.  The 
plays  include  "insult  songs,"  which,  though  they  certainly  can  hardly  be 
called  "good-natured"  fun,  yet  permit  no  trace  of  ill-nature  to  appear  on 
the  surface;  comic  figures  carved  in  ivory;  trials  of  strength  with  the  purpose 
of  showing  the  other  fellow  his  inferiority;  "stunts"  such  as  walking  in 
peculiar  ways  which  others  try  to  imitate;  daring  and  amusing  feats  with 
the  kyak;  burlesque  gymnastic  performances;  mimicry;  comic  songs,  of 
which  the  Eskimos  are  said  to  be  very  fond;  making  faces,  also  a  favorite 
sport;  musk-ox  hunts,  in  which  the  players  dress  themselves  up  in  skins  and 
then  turn  their  dogs  loose;  masquerades  in  which  they  either  so  represent 
different  animals,  or  else  try  to  get  a  costume  as  grotesque  as  possible; 
ice-spinning,  in  which  the  booby  of  the  party  is  placed  on  a  block  of  ice 
and  revolved  as  rapidly  as  possible,  until  he  is  overcome  by  dizziness;  string 
games,  i.e.,  performances  in  making  all  sorts  of  animals  and  objects  after 


36  PLAY  ACTIVITIES  OF   ADULT  SAVAGES   AND  CHILDREN 

the  cat's-cradle  method;  good-natured  "chaffing"  in  conversation;  practi- 
cal jokes. 

As  to  "Gambling  Games,"  except  in  Alaska  and  about  Hudson  Bay, 
where  the  Eskimos  have  come  in  contact  with  whites  and  Indians,  neither 
the  number  nor  variety  is  very  great,  but  we  are  told  that  in  some  localities 
the  Eskimos  are  passionately  fond  of  them  and  will  even  gamble  away 
the  last  article  of  clothing,  in  which  case  the  winner  usually  gives  back  at 
least  a  part  of  the  clothing  with  the  advice  to  "play  more  and  lose  less  next 
time."  The  introduced  games,  cards  and  dominoes,  are  mentioned  two  or 
three  times,  but  the  favorite  gambling  games  are  (i)  of  the  roulette  type, 
in  which  a  cup  of  musk-ox  horn,  or  some  substitute  for  it,  is  revolved  rapidly, 
the  person  to  whom  the  handle  points  when  it  comes  to  rest  winning  the 
stake;  or  (2)  of  the  dice  type,  in  which  bones  of  some  animal  are  dropped, 
the  position  in  which  they  lie  when  they  come  to  rest  determining  who  has 
the  stake. 

At  Hudson  Bay  a  game  similar  to  cup-and-ball  is  played  as  a  gam- 
bling game.  The  skull  of  an  animal  is  tossed  and  caught  in  certain 
definite  positions  upon  a  sharp  point  of  wood  or  ivory.  This  seems  to  be  a 
favorite  play  among  nearly  all  of  the  Eskimos,  but  in  some  localities  it  has 
been  developed  into  a  rather  complicated  game  of  skill. 

The  only  other  gambling  game  found,  until  we  reach  Alaska,  is  a  thrust- 
ing game  in  which  a  piece  of  ivory  with  a  hole  in  its  center  is  suspended 
from  the  top  of  the  iglu.  The  players  vie  with  one  another  in  trying  to 
pierce  the  hole  with  a  pointed  piece  of  ivory  or  wood. 

Of  the  games  described  at  Point  Barrow,  Alaska,  Mr.  Murdoch  dis- 
tinctly states  that  the  Eskimos  have  but  one  gambling  game — a  throwing 
contest.  We  have  not  found  it  mentioned  by  any  other  writer.  At  Bering 
Strait  and  vicinity,  however,  the  following  are  named:  throwing  at  a 
mark;  a  net  and  dart  game — the  one  who  succeeds  in  sending  his  dart  so 
as  to  have  it  caught  in  the  meshes  of  the  net  wins  the  stake;  throwing 
darts  at  a  spool-shaped  body  with  a  hole  in  the  center;  throwing  grass 
rings  over  a  stake;  another  dart  game;  two  games  similar  to  jackstraws 
and  jackstones.    The  following  will  serve  as  a  type  of  the  dart  games: 

This  is  played  in  the  kashim  by  two  or  more  persons,  usually  for  a  stake. 
The  darts  are  small,  short,  and  made  of  wood,  largest  at  the  point,  and  tapering 
backward  toward  the  butt,  in  which  is  fastened  a  bird  quill  for  guiding  the  dart 
in  its  flight.  In  the  large  end  of  the  dart  is  fastened  a  sharp  spike  of  bone,  hom, 
or  sometimes  of  ivory.  The  target  is  a  small  upright  stick  of  some  soft  wood 
planted  in  the  floor.  This  may  be  placed  in  the  middle  of  the  room  and 
the  players  divided  into  two  parties,  seated  on  opposite  sides  of  the  target, 


PLAYS  OF  SAVAGES  37 

or  it  may  be  placed  on  one  side  of  the  room  and  the  players  seated  together  on  the 
other.  In  the  former  case  a  man  is  appointed  to  return  the  darts  to  the  throwers 
and  to  give  each  player  a  counter  when  a  point  is  made.  Each  player  has  two 
darts  which  he  throws  one  after  the  other,  and  a  score  is  made  when  a  dart  remains 
sticking  in  the  target.  Ten  small  wooden  counting  sticks  are  placed  on  the 
floor  by  the  target,  and  one  of  these  is  given  for  each  score;  the  side  gaining  the 
most  of  these  coimters  takes  the  prize,  and  the  game  begins  again.*' 

We  have  found  no  evidence  that  any  of  the  gambling  games  have  reli- 
gious associations,  as  is  the  case  with  those  of  the  Indians,  unless  the 
"chance"  element  itself  may  be  considered  a  religious  idea  of  an  elementary 
sort  like  that  associated  with  the  "ordeal."  Some  of  them  may  have  been 
borrowed  from  the  Indians,  however. 

A  very  interesting  group  of  games  is  found  under  the  heading  "  Ordeal" 
(column  xxviii) — not  large,  but  extremely  significant.  They  are  all  games 
of  contest,  and  the  idea  underlying  all  of  them  is,  that  whichever  one  wins 
in  the  struggle  is  not  only  the  stronger  but  the  better  man. 

First  on  the  list  are  the  "singing  combats"  or  "nith  songs,"  and  here  we 
shall  give  the  description  as  related  by  Rasmussen,  describing  the  customs 
of  the  East  Greenlanders,  who  are  probably  the  most  primitive  in  type  of 
the  Eskimo  groups; 

Insult  songs  were  the  means  the  east  coast  Eskimos  used  to  setde  up  all  their 
differences.  When  two  men  had  cause  of  enmity  against  each  other,  it  was  their 
mode  of  duel.  All  the  grown-up  people  of  the  place  were  called  together  into  one 
large  house,  and,  in  the  presence  of  all  those  whose  opinions  were  respected,  each 
then  attempted  in  song  to  lay  bare  his  opponent's  sore  points.  The  injured  man 
was,  of  course,  always  the  challenger,  and  had  the  first  right  to  speak.  Before  he 
began  to  sing  at  his  opponent,  he  bound  him  carefully  with  tight  bonds  to  the 
support  of  the  house,  and  there  he  had  to  stand  the  whole  evening,  exposed  to  the 
mockery  of  the  singers  and  the  onlookers.  His  opponent  was  permitted  to  make 
use  of  every  imaginable  means  of  exciting  him  to  anger;  he  was  allowed  to  spit 
in  his  face,  to  fill  his  mouth  with  blubber,  till  he  could  not  draw  his  breath,  and, 
while  flinging  at  him  the  most  virulent  abuse  he  could  think  of,  was  supposed  to 
jump  at  him,  and,  with  his  forehead,  strike  him  frightful  "skull -breakers,"  wher- 
ever on  his  face  he  Uked.  These  blows  did  not  cease  till  the  opponent's  face  was 
so  swollen  that  "the  cheeks  were  on  a  level  with  the  forehead,  and  the  eyes  were 
closed." 

And  while  this  was  going  on,  the  bound  man  must  not,  by  word  or  look,  betray 
that  the  singer's  scom  or  ill-treatment  made  the  sUghtest  impression  on  him.  On 
the  contrary,  a  superior  smile  must  play  upon  his  lips,  and  his  face  must  express 
compassion  for  his  opponent's  unsuccessful  attempts  to  excite  him  and  make  him 
give  himself  away.  His  day  came  when  the  wounds  on  his  face  were  well.  Then 
he  could  take  his  revenge. 


38  PLAY  ACTIVITIES   OF  ADULT   SAVAGES   AND  CHILDREN 

It  was  only  specially  strong  and  courageous  men  who  could  challenge  each 
other  to  an  insult  duel  of  this  description,  which  naturally  demanded  not  only 
strength  but  unusual  self-control.  During  the  interval  before  a  duel,  men  used  to 
harden  their  foreheads  as  follows:  The  skull  of  a  bearded  seal  would  be  bound 
fast  to  the  post  of  the  house,  and  the  man  would  practice  running  his  head  against 
it,  until  the  skin  of  his  forehead  was  so  hard  that  it  no  longer  hurt  him  to  do  so. 
There  were  some  who  attained  such  dexterity  that  they  could  split  the  skull  of  a 
seal,  Christian  declared.** 

Among  other  tribes  the  ordeal  was  not  always  so  severe  as  among  this 
particular  group.  Sometimes  both  contests  were  held  the  same  evening, 
the  friends  of  each  man  being  present  to  encourage  and  support  him  by 
their  presence  and  sympathetic  responses  of  word  and  song.  Crantz  thus 
describes  the  same  custom  among  the  West  Greenlanders. 

The  most  remarkable  circumstance  is  that  they  even  decide  their  quarrels  by 
a  match  of  singing  and  dancing  which  they  call  the  singing  combat.  If  a  Green- 
lander  thinks  himself  aggrieved  by  another,  he  discovers  no  symptom  of  revengeful 
designs,  anger,  or  vexation,  but  he  composes  a  satirical  poem,  which  he  recites 
with  singing  and  dancing,  in  the  presence  of  his  domestics,  and  particularly  the 
female  part  of  his  family,  till  they  know  it  by  rote.  He  then,  in  the  face  of  the 
whole  coimtry,  challenges  his  antagonist  to  a  satirical  duel.  The  latter  appears  at 
the  appointed  place  and  both  parties  enter  their  lists.  The  complainant  begins 
to  sing  his  satire,  dancing  to  the  beat  of  the  drum,  and  cheered  by  the  echoing 
"Amna  ajah"  of  his  partizans,  who  join  in  every  line,  while  he  repeats  so  many 
ludicrous  stories  of  which  his  adversary  is  the  subject,  that  the  auditors  cannot 
forbear  laughing.  When  he  has  finished,  the  respondent  steps  forth,  and  retorts 
the  accusation,  amidst  the  plaudits  of  his  party,  by  a  similar  string  of  lampoons. 
The  accuser  renews  the  assaults,  and  is  again  rebuffed,  and  this  continues  till 
one  of  the  competitors  is  weary.  He  who  has  the  last  word  wins  the  trial,  and 
obtains  thenceforward  a  reputable  name.  An  opportunity  is  here  offered  of 
telling  very  plain  and  cutting  truths,  but  there  must  be  no  mixture  of  rudeness  or 
passion.    The  assembled  spectators  decide  the  victory  and  the  parties  are  in  the 

future  the  best  of  friends The  drum-dances  of  the  Greenlanders  are,  then, 

their  Olympic  Games,  their  Areopagus,  their  rostrum,  their  theater,  their  fair  and 

their  Forum This  contest  is  seldom  attended  by  any  disorderly  conduct, 

except  that  a  man  that  is  well  seconded  sometimes  carries  off  a  woman  whom  he 
wishes  to  marry.  It  serves  a  higher  purpose  than  mere  diversion.  It  is  an 
excellent  opportunity  for  putting  immorality  to  the  blush,  and  cherishing  virtuous 
principles,  for  reminding  debtors  of  the  duty  of  repayment,  for  branding  false- 
hood ....  and  most  of  all  for  overwhelming  adiiltery  with  its  merited  con- 
tempt.9 

The  next  most  interesting  item  on  the  list  is  the  one  named  "Victory  of 
Seasons."    It  is  described  by  Boas  (Baffin  Land)  as  follows: 


PLAYS  OF   SAVAGES  39 

The  crowd  next  divides  itself  into  two  parties,  the  ptarmigans  (axigirn),  those 
who  were  bom  in  the  winter,  and  the  ducks  (aggirn),  or  the  children  of  the  sum- 
mer. A  large  rope  of  sealskin  is  stretched  out.  One  party  takes  one  end  of  it 
and  tries  with  all  its  might  to  drag  the  opposite  party  over  to  its  side.  The  others 
hold  fast  to  the  rope  and  try  as  hard  to  make  ground  for  themselves.  If  the 
ptarmigans  give  way,  the  summer  has  won  the  game  and  fine  weather  may  be 
expected  to  prevail  through  the  winter.  This  game  is  played  at  the  winter 
festival  and  is  symbolic,  being  a  part  of  their  religious  rites.* 

We  have  placed  a  game  of  blind-man's-buff  among  the  "Ordeal" 
games,  though  it  does  not  rank  with  the  others.  In  this  the  "blind  man" 
strikes  the  person  caught  a  heavy  blow  upon  the  cheek,  when  he  becomes 
the  "catcher,"  and  does  the  same  with  the  next  person  caught.  It  is  an 
"  Ordeal "  game  only  in  the  sense  of  proving  who  can  keep  his  temper.  The 
typical  "ordeal,"  however,  is  a  trial  of  strength,  either  by  wrestling,  by  box- 
ing, or  by  hook-and-crook.  In  one  form  or  another,  these  games  are  spoken 
of  as  in  vogue  from  Labrador  to  Alaska.  In  some  places  the  victor  has 
the  right  to  kill  his  opponent,  though  this  is  probably  seldom  done,  except 
where  some  old  feud  exists. 

"Courtship  Plays"  (column  xxix)  are  mentioned  but  twice,  in  one  case 
the  "singing  combat,"  already  described,  in  the  other  a  wrestling  contest, 
the  outcome  of  the  contest  being  that  the  victorious  suitor  takes  possession 
of  the  bride. 

"Religious  Plays"  (column  xxxi)  are  represented  by  the  ventriloquial 
and  legerdemain  practices  of  the  angekok  or  shaman,  by  the  tug-of-war 
contests,  which  typify  the  victory  of  the  seasons,  by  the  chorus  songs 
(in  Alaska)  used  in  the  religious  festivals;  and  we  might  have  added — 
what  does  not  appear  on  the  chart — the  festivals  to  the  dead,  to  which  the 
spirits  of  the  dead  are  invited  and  entertained  by  songs,  dancing,  singing, 
feasting,  etc. 

One  group  still  remains  to  be  spoken  of,  namely,  "Intellectual  Plays" 
(column  xxx).  Map-drawing  and  checkers  are  spoken  of  a  few  times,  but 
probably  have  been  taught  by  the  whites  in  every  case.  Besides  these, 
very  simple  traditional  and  original  songs,  story-telling,  carvings  in  wood 
bone,  and  ivory,  and  the  highly  developed  inventive  and  imitative  string 
figures  of  the  cat's-cradle  type — these  are  all  that  can  be  named  of  a  more 
intellectual  sort  than  the  games  of  skill  already  described,  and  these,  it  will 
be  noted,  are  plays,  not  games. 

It  is  an  almost  pathetic  fact,  however,  that  about  the  only  thing  "owned," 
among  these  savage  Eskimos,  aside  from  their  weapons  and  clothes,  is  the 
"original  song."    Although  it  is  expected  as  a  matter  of  course  that  the 


40  PLAY  ACTIVITIES  OF  ADULT  SAVAGES  AND  CHILDREN 

hunter  will  share  with  his  neighbor  the  last  mouthful  of  the  game  he  has 
brought  down,  without  expecting  thanks,  he  who  invents  a  new  song  is 
looked  upon  as  a  benefactor,  deserving  of  the  thanks  of  all.  He  is  the  true 
philanthropist — "the  giver."'*^ 

One  general  observation  upon  the  Eskimo  chart  is  of  great  interest. 
The  East  Greenlanders  are  supposed  to  be  the  most  primitive  of  the  Eskimo 
tribes,  the  Eskimos  of  Alaska  the  most  cultured.  All  of  them  unless  it  be 
the  East  Greenland  group,  concerning  which  we  have  found  no  statement 
regarding  this  particular  point,  give  evidence  both  in  their  features  and  in 
their  mythology  of  having  some  time  been  in  contact  with  the  Indians,  a 
more  highly  developed  people  than  the  Eskimos.  All  of  the  native  gam- 
bling games  may  have  been  borrowed  from  the  Indians,  as  cards,  checkers, 
and  dominoes  certainly  have  been  from  the  whites.  But  the  influence  of 
both  whites  and  Indians  upon  the  Eskimos  of  Western  Alaska,  where  there 
has  been  not  only  contact  but  intermarriage,  has  been  very  great,  and  here 
we  find  that  the  games  take  on  a  considerably  more  complex  type,  so  much 
so  as  to  form  a  marked  contrast  to  those  of  the  eastern  Eskimos  or  even  to 
those  of  Point  Barrow.  Here  again  we  have  another  indication  that  com- 
plexity of  games  is  an  indication  or  rather  an  accompaniment  of  complexity 
of  culture.  As  an  illustration  of  this  fact,  we  may  note  that  most  of  the 
"Double  Group"  plays  are  found  either  in  civilized  Danish  Greenland  or 
in  Alaska.  The  two  games  which  have  been  placed  in  the  "Organized" 
column  are  both  from  Alaska.  "Group  Competition"  is  much  more  evi- 
dent in  Alaska  than  in  any  other  place.  "Gambling  Games"  are  more 
frequent  in  Alaska  and  the  Hudson  Bay  territory  which  has  been  so 
frequently  visited  by  fishing  fleets  and  fur  traders.  The  "Religious 
Games"  are  much  more  highly  developed  in  Alaska,  and  many  customs 
appear  here  as,  for  example,  finger  masks,  and  organized  group  dances, 
which  are  entirely  unknown  among  the  Eskimos  outside  of  Alaska.  More 
elaboration  is  also  found  in  chorus  singing,  mimetic  dances,  and  festivals, 
and  especially  is  this  true  of  carvings. 

CONCLUSION 

Comparing,  now,  the  results  of  the  study  of  Eskimo  play  with  that  of  the 
other  four  groups,  we  reach  the  following  conclusions: 

Somatic  characteristics. — Play  involving  both  the  general  and  specialized 
use  of  muscles  has  a  much  larger  place  in  the  life  of  the  Eskimo,  both  in 
amount  and  variety,  than  with  any  of  the  other  groups 
studied,  with  the  possible  exception  of  the  Bushmen,  indi- 
cating, as  we  believe,  a  higher  and  more  complex  t)rpe  of  physical  and  mental 
development  on  the  part  of  the  Eskimos. 


PLAYS  OF  SAVAGES  41 

Organization. — (i)  In  the  organization  of  their  plays,  the  Eskimos 
have  more  ''individual"  plays  than  any  of  the  other  groups,  but  they  also 
have  the  more  complex  games  belonging  to  the  homogeneous  group,  both 
single  and  double.  They  also  have  simple  games  of  the  organized  type, 
which  the  others  do  not  appear  to  have. 

(2)  In  all  five  groups,  unorganized  play  predominates  over  organized 
games. 

Psychological  characteristics. — (i)  In  all  five  tribes  the  sensory  elements 
are  very  marked  characteristics  of  the  play. 

(2)  Rhythm  is  also  a  marked  characteristic. 

(3)  In  all  the  tribes  except  the  Veddahs  perception  is  very  strongly 
developed,  as  shown  in  all  the  mimetic  and  dramatic  entertainments.  With 
the  Veddahs  the  only  perceptual  play  of  which  we  have  any  account  is  the 
arrow  dance,  which  we  have  assumed  to  be  mimetic. 

(4)  The  typical  "games  of  skill"  seem  to  be  entirely  lacking  among  the 
adult  Veddahs,  are  almost  wholly  so  among  the  Central  Australians,  were 
somewhat  developed  among  the  Yahgans,  more  so  among  the  Bushmen, 
and  are  comparatively  well  developed  among  the  Eskimos.* 

(5)  Games  of  skill  are  really  games  of  judgment  based  upon  concrete 
conditions;  hence,  the  comparison  made  under  (4)  with  respect  to  games 
would  hold  also  with  respect  to  the  "practical  judgment,"  so  far  as  it  relates 
to  play. 

(6)  Games  of  judgment  based  upon  abstract  conditions  find  their  highest 
representatives  in  courtship  games,  the  ordeals,  and  religious  games.  It 
will  be  noticed  that  with  these  people,  the  last-named  games  are  not  mere 
play,  they  are  real  and  serious  attempts  to  reason  out  the  ways  and  means 
of  meeting  real  and  serious  situations,  and  the  same  may  originally  have  been 
true  of  the  gambling  games. 

*  It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  we  have  much  more  accurate  knowledge  of  the 
Eskimos  than  we  have  of  the  other  tribes,  yet  with  respect  to  general  tendencies  we 
believe  the  results  here  reached  are  substantially  correct. 


m 

ANALYSIS  OF  PLAYS  OF  CIVILIZED  CHILDREN 

We  have  next  to  consider  the  play  of  civilized  children,  and  in  order 

to  get  the  study  upon  a  basis  which  will  allow  of  legitimate  comparison 

with  that  of  savages,  the  same  graphic  method  of  analysis 

of  individual  games  was  adopted,  and  the  same  rubrics  used 

throughout  except  in  case  of  a  few  minor  subdivisions  where  the  former 

headings  did  not  at  all  apply  to  modem  games. 

Chart  II,  while  by  no  means  covering  the  whole  range  of  children's 
play  activities,  is  believed  to  be  happily  representative.  Mr.  Chase's  study* 
was  based  chiefly  upon  personal  observation  of  the  children  themselves, 
while  at  play  in  the  streets  of  New  York  City.  It  does  not  include  house 
games.  Mr.  Culin's  admirable  study"  upon  games  of  Brooklyn  children 
is  also  based  upon  personal  observation  (with  the  exception  of  the  Phila- 
delphia gangs)  aided  by  the  personal  observation  and  experience  of  a  ten- 
year-old  boy  friend.  Naturally  the  emphasis  is  thrown  upon  boys'  games, 
excluding,  as  it  does,  house  games  and  all  those  played  by  girls  alone. 

Mr.  Babcock's  study  on  "Games  of  Washington  Children"^  seems  to 
place  more  emphasis  upon  girls'  play  and  that  of  young  children,  inasmuch 
as  the  various  ball  games  and  contests  of  strength,  which  are  much  more 
popular  with  older  boys,  are  treated  with  great  brevity,  while  the  ring 
games  have  great  prominence.  House  games  are  also  excluded,  for  the 
most  part. 

Mr.  McGhee's  study ,34  on  the  other  hand,  gives  a  great  number  of 
"parlor  games,"  as  well  as  of  outdoor  plays,  thus  including  the  typical 
"girls'  games,"  while  Mr.  Crosswell's  study '°  (a  portion  only  of  which  is 
here  used)  names  the  favorite  games  of  boys  and  of  girls,  and  includes  both 
house  and  outdoor  sports.  It  seems,  therefore,  that  we  may  safely  trust 
the  conclusions  reached,  allowing  some  margin  for  errors  of  analysis, 
although  even  that  has  been  done  with  as  great  care  as  the  descriptions  of 
the  various  authors,  and  the  help  of  a  Cyclopedia  of  Games  and  Sports 
would  permit. 7'»  It  should  be  said,  however,  that  very  few  plays  of  children 
below  school  age  (six  years)  appear  in  any  of  these  studies. 

It  may  be  needful  also  to  offer  a  word  of  apology  for  the  insertion  of 
Mr.  Culin's  list  of  gangs,  but  it  is  certainly  the  play  spirit  which  animates 
them,  and  they  serve  to  bring  out  an  interesting  comparison  between  civi- 

43 


PLAYS   OF  CIVILIZED  CHILDREN  43 

lized  and  savage  play.  The  same  might  be  said  of  many  kinds  of  juvenile 
societies.     These,  however,  do  not  appear  on  the  chart. 

Accepting  the  chart  games,  then,  as  offering  a  fair  "sample"  of  the 
entire  general  list,  one  rather  interesting  comparison  at  once  appears, 
respecting  the  difference  between  the  sexes  in  choice  of  games.  That 
portion  of  the  chart  in  which  boys'  games  predominate  (Mr.  Culin's)  is 
characterized  by  continuous  lines  of  entries,  and  fewer  of  them.  They 
are  expanded  vertically,  while  in  the  portions  including  games  of  both 
boys  and  girls  in  about  equal  numbers  the  lines  are  more  broken  and 
straggling,  that  is,  they  are  expanded  horizontally.  This  difference  is  of 
course  due  to  the  presence  of  the  girls'  games,  and  it  bears  out  the 
opinion  which  several  authors  have  expressed,  namely,  that  boys  play 
fewer  games  than  girls,  and  have  much  stronger  preferences  for  those  which 
are  their  favorites. 

We  question,  however,  the  further  statement  of  these  same  authors  who 
observe  that  males  show  greater  variability  than  females  in  choice  of  games. 
Our  chart  suggests  that  the  difference  in  variation  is  a  difference  in  kind, 
not  in  degree — that,  given  an  equal  amount  of  energy  to  both  the  boy  and  the 
girl,  the  first  will  expend  it  upon  a  few  lines  of  interest  while  the  second  will 
divide  it  up  among  many.  We  may  say,  perhaps,  that  the  variation  of  bpys 
is  up  and  down  the  scale,  that  is,  vertically,  while  girls  vary  in  the  direction 
of  the  "all-round"  interest,  that  is,  horizontally.  If  this  be  true,  and 
granting,  also,  that  play  is  typical  of  life  in  general,  we  should  expect  to 
find  among  men  a  relatively  larger  number  representing  both  the  highest 
and  lowest  in  race  development,  while  a  relatively  larger  number  of  women 
should  represent  the  "many  sided,"  the  humanitarian  interests.  Whether 
the  first  part  of  this  proposition  be  true  or  not,  namely  that  more  men  than 
women  vary  above  the  average,  cannot  be  known  experimentally  until 
women  are  free  as  men  to  live  out  their  highest  capacities,  unhindered  by 
a  wage  so  small  as  to  debar  them  from  advantages  which  men  find  necessary 
for  their  best  achievement,  and  untrammeled  by  fear  of  intrigue  and  treach- 
ery from  which  they  have,  as  yet,  no  means  of  protection,  except  by  with- 
drawal from  the  danger,  and  likewise  from  their  opportunity  also.  But 
the  other  end  of  the  argument,  namely,  that  more  males  than  females  vary 
below  the  average,  finds  some  confirmation  in  the  fact  that,  both  in  London 
and  in  New  York,  presumably  representative  cities,  about  two-thirds  of 
the  defective  children  are  males.*  On  the  other  hand,  when  we  consider 
that  the  highly  organized  games  and  city  gangs,  representing  a  very  objective 
and  a  very  intense  life,  are  more  typical  of  boys,  while  societies  for  mere  play, 

*  See  an  article  by  the  author  in  Pedagogical  Seminary's  (March,  1907),  31. 


44  PLAY  ACTIVITIES  OF  ADULT  SAVAGES  AND  CHILDREN 

self-improvement,  benevolent  and  altruistic  organizations  of  all  sorts,  that  is, 
interests  of  a  more  subjective  type,  appeal  far  more  strongly  to  girls  than  to 
boys,  we  find  still  further  confirmation  of  this  possible  law  of  variation.  It 
explains,  also,  why  girls  can  be  much  more  easily  diverted  from  one  interest 
to  another.  They  have,  if  we  may  trust  the  charts,  more  inherent  tendencies 
with  which  to  respond  to  various  sorts  of  stimulation.  This  is  in  line  with 
Mendel's  discovery  that,  physiologically,  the  female  is  more  complex  even  in 
the  original  cell.s"  On  the  other  hand,  the  very  fact  of  fewer  interests  on 
the  part  of  boys,  i.e.,  fewer  avenues  for  escape  of  nervous  energy,  accounts 
in  itself,  perhaps,  for  the  greater  intensity. 

Another  comparison  also  suggests  itself  here,  namely,  that  the  difference 
between  civilization  and  non-civilization  may  consist  simply  in  an  exaggera- 
tion and  combination  of  both  these  types  of  variation.  Variation  up  and 
down  the  scale  certainly  seems  to  appear  in  the  superior  intellectual  capacity 
of  at  least  a  few  among  civilized  individuals,  while  there  is  certainly  a  far 
larger  proportion  of  imbeciles  and  defectives  among  civilized  than  among 
savage  peoples.  On  the  other  hand,  no  one  would  question  for  a  moment 
that  the  range  of  interests  is  far  broader  among  the  civilized  races. 

Comparative. — The  details  of  the  children's  chart  may  be  considered 
somewhat  briefly,  inasmuch  as  the  more  careful  analysis  of  the  chart  of 
Eskimo  play  has  already  called  attention  to  significant 
Somatic  points.     The  group  of  columns  v-ix  under  "Somatic  Char- 

...  acteristics"  teaches  beyond  all  question,  that  if  children  are 

let  alone  to  find  amusement  and  self-training  as  impulse 
directs,  by  far  the  greater  part  of  their  pleasure  will  be  found  in  reactions 
which  involve  the  activity  of  the  whole  body.  Many  of  the  house  games, 
even,  involve  frequent  change  of  position,  or  marching,  or  perhaps  a 
scramble  for  seats.  In  fact  the  column  indicating  activity  of  the  whole 
body  is  more  continuous  with  the  children  than  it  is  with  the  Eskimos. 
Furthermore,  the  proportion  of  "Running  Games"  is  far  greater  with  the 
children. 

If  we  turn  over  the  "Fighting  Plays"  (column  vi),  arm-tracking,  hook- 
and-crook,  foot-pushing,  etc.,  to  the  "Whole  Body"  plays  (see  p.  26), 
as  was  done  with  the  Eskimo  lists,  there  is  again  left  a  collection  of  games 
requiring  more  specialized  muscular  control.  The  list  includes  marbles, 
juggling,  tossed  ball,  jackstraws,  pease-porridge-hot,  missy-massy,  two 
little  blackbirds,  "this  is  the  church,"  cat's-cradle,  up-Jenks,  parlor  croquet, 
parchesi,  bean  bags,  Simon  says  "thumbs  up,"  ring  on  the  string,  pillow  dex, 
tit-tat-taw,  mumblety-peg,  roller  skates,  bicycling.  So  far  as  the  employ- 
ment of  skill  is  concerned,  the  Eskimo  games  stand  well  in  comparison; 


PLAYS  OF  CIVILIZED  CHILDREN  45 

however,  drawing,  painting,  and  playing  off  musical  instruments  do  not 
happen  to  be  represented  on  the  chart  of  children's  plays. 

"Quiet  Plays"  are  about  equally  well  represented  on  both  charts,  with 
this  difference,  however,  that  on  the  Eskimo  chart  a  larger  place  propor- 
tionately is  given  to  singing,  dancing,  and  drumming,  i.e.,  to  rhythmic 
plays.  Dancing  is  not  once  mentioned  on  the  children's  chart  as  a  play 
for  its  own  sake,  but  it  is  often  an  accessory  to  other  plays  and  games.  Some 
of  the  quiet  plays  are  included  in  the  list  just  given;  others  are,  hunt  the 
button,  picture-tossing  (a  gambling  game),  some  singing  games,  Quaker 
meeting,  post-office,  wishing  rhymes,  rhymes  of  augury,  jingles  of  various 
tjrpes,  "this  little  pig  went  to  market,"  "dog  Latin,"  "cat  Latin"  (i.e., 
plays  of  the  vocal  organs),  hide  the  button,  various  guessing  games,  a  great 
variety  of  card  games,  dolls,  forfeits,  dramatic  plays,  parchesi,  and  many 
similar  games,  charades,  riddles,  puzzles,  checkers,  proverbs,  philopena, 
consequences,  "cross-questions  and  crooked  answers,"  "table  rappings," 
chess,  twenty  questions,  backgammon,  dominoes,  reading,  making  pictures, 
telling  stories,  making  toys,  etc. 

Unlike  the  muscular  games,  into  which  the  Eskimos  seem  to  bring 
relatively  a  greater  amount  of  skill  than  the  children,  the  "Quiet  Games" 
on  the  children's  chart  more  often  call  for  quick  perception  or  imagination 
or  constructive  powers,  as,  for  example,  acting  charades,  guessing  riddles, 
conundrums,  etc. 

Under  the  second  general  rubric,  "Organization,"  proportionally  fewer 
"Individual"  games  appeared  as  compared  with  the  Eskimo  chart.  The 
reason  of  this  is  undoubtedly  found  in  the  exclusion  of  most 
^  .  .  , .  of  the  games  of  children  under  six  years  of  age  (school  age). 
Among  those  which  do  appear,  however,  are  bonfires,  rope- 
jumping,  hop-scotch  (which  is  sometimes  played  alone,  sometimes  with 
others),  a  pretty  little  finger  play  in  which  the  child  places  the  hands  back  to 
back,  then  closes  them  over  the  fingers,  with  the  exception  of  the  upward- 
pointing  index  fingers,  while  she  repeats  the  words 

This  is  the  church, 

And  this  is  the  steeple; 
Open  the  door. 

And  see  all  the  people. 

Tops,  "buzz,"  and  cat's-cradle,  coasting,  skates,  roller  skates,  dolls, 
housekeeping,  swimming,  swinging,  kites,  puzzles,  jackstraws,  jackstones, 
play  wagon,  bicycling,  kites,  reading,  fishing,  boat-sailing,  roll  hoop,  cars, 
"making  things"  appear.  It  may  be  noticed,  however,  that  while  the 
number  of  individual  plays  is  smaller  than  with  the  Eskimos,  the  variety  is 


46  PLAY  ACTIVITIES  OF  ADULT  SAVAGES  AND  CHILDREN 

much  greater.  But  while  on  the  Eskimo  chart  the  list  of  "Individual 
Plays"  and  those  of  the  "Undefined  Group"  were  in  about  equal  propor- 
tions, on  the  children's  chart  the  entries  under  "Undefined  Group"  greatly 
exceeded  the  others.  This  again  was  partly  due  to  exclusion  of  plays  of  the 
youngest  children,  but  the  results  of  columns  xiv,  xv,  and  xvi  lead  one  to 
feel  that  it  was  partly  due  also  to  a  greater  tendency  to  organization  in 
American  children.  The  plays  represented  by  "Single  Pair,"  "Double 
Group,"  and  "Organized  Group"  are  all  better  represented  on  the  chil- 
dren's chart,  and  what  is  of  still  greater  interest,  two  classes  of  games  were 
noted  on  the  children's  chart,  namely,  "Team  Games,"  and  "Gangs," 
which  had  nothing  corresponding  to  them  on  the  chart  of  the  Eskimos. 

Again  the  same  difference  between  unorganized  and  organized  play 
appeared  in  columns  xvii  and  xviii,  where  the  proportion  of  games  to  play 
was  much  greater  on  the  children's  chart.  We  can  hardly  resist  the  con- 
clusion suggested  by  the  double  study,  that  organization  is  much  more 
typical  of  children's  play  in  civilized  countries  than  among  adult  sayages. 
This  opinion  would  be  much  further  strengthened  had  "societies"  been 
included  in  the  chart,  as  well  as  gangs.  Furthermore,  in  both  of  these,  as 
well  as  in  the  team  games,  a  new  and  additional  element  of  organization 
appeared,  namely,  organization  for  permanency. 

A  comparative  study  of  the  psychical  characteristics  showed  that  sensa- 
tion had  a  slightly  more  emphatic  place  on  the  Eskimo  chart  (column 
Psyeholog-ical  ^x).  The  same  was  true  of  "Rhythmic  Plays"  (column 
Character-  xx).  But  here  again  we  miss  the  plays  of  the  children  under 
istics  school  age,  who  were,  therefore,  too  young  to  be  playing 

on  the  streets. 

"Dramatic"  tendencies  (column  xxi),  i.e.,  perceptual  play,  were  about 
equally  represented  on  both  charts,  and  probably  deserved  on  both  a 
stronger  representation  than  they  had. 

In  "Games  of  Skill"  (column  xxii),  the  Eskimos  certainly  seemed  to  be 
relatively  in  advance  of  the  children.  This  does  not  mean  that  they  have 
more  games  of  that  character,  but  that  a  larger  proportion  of  what  they 
have  are  of  that  tjrpe.  Like  the  children,  Eskimos  voluntarily  place 
themselves  under  a  rigorous  course  of  self-training. 

The  sense  of  the  ludicrous  (column  xxiii),  while  strong  with  the  Eskimos, 
appeared  to  be  even  stronger  with  the  children.  Playing  practical  jokes 
seems  to  be  one  of  the  strongest  incentives  in  the  formation  of  street  gangs. 
Among  other  plays  mentioned  are  leapfrog  and  several  similar  games;  last 
tag,  in  which  a  ridiculing  couplet  is  hurled  at  the  one  who  happens  to  be 
last  in  reaching  his  retreat;  "follow  your  leader,"  who  tries  to  conduct  his 


PLAYS  OF  CrVILIZED  CHILDREN  47 

party  through  all  the  absurd  and  difficult  feats  possible;  Spanish  fly, 
similar  to  the  last  in  type;  several  plays,  the  purpose  of  which  is  to  foist 
some  practical  joke  on  a  new-comer  in  the  neighborhood;  snap  the  whip, 
mouse  trap,  contemptuous  rhymes,  April-fool  tricks  (not  shown  on  the 
chart),  "dog  Latin,"  "cat  Latin,"  "smiling  angel,"  "pretty  maids,"  and 
other  games,  in  which  one  who  makes  a  wrong  guess  is  derided  in  some  way; 
"Buffalo  Bill"  and  other  "shows";  battle,  knucks,  stagecoach,  and 
similar  games  involving  a  series  of  ridiculous  motions;  forfeits,  acting 
charades,  Simon  says  "thumbs  up,"  philopena,  roly-poly,  cross-questions, 
Quaker  meeting,  etc. 

"Individual  Competition"  (column  xxiv)  was  a  very  strong  character- 
istic on  both  charts,  but  "Group  Competition"  had  a  very  much  more 
prominent  place  on  the  children's  chart.  This  study  confirmed  the  con- 
clusions reached  under  the  rubric,  "Type  of  Organization." 

The  children  had  a  much  larger  variety  of  "  Games  of  Chance  "  (column 
xxvi)  other  than  gambling  games.  Many  of  these  were  card  games,  but 
among  those  which  were  not  were  "splitting  tops,"  prophets,  Hallowe'en 
charms,  wishing  rhymes,  several  guessing  games,  dominoes,  parchesi,  con- 
sequences, "cross-questions  and  crooked  answers,"  and  "counting  out"  to 
see  who  shall  be  "it." 

The  study  of  "Gambling  Games"  (column  xxvii)  showed  that  while 
Eskimos  are  winning  stakes  with  dice,  roulette,  archery,  and  throwing 
games,  American  children  are  winning  them  with  marbles,  buttons,  pennies, 
pictures,  eggs,  cards,  and  other  devices. 

The  "Ordeal"  (column  xxviii)  would  seem,  perhaps,  to  belong  exclu- 
sively to  savage  society,  but  apparently  it  has  its  counterpart  in  the  play 
of  civilized  children  and  youth.  It  is  a  marked  characteristic  of  many  of 
the  city  gangs.  Our  national  game,  baseball,  may  be  considered  to  have  in 
it  the  element  of  "ordeal,"  in  somewhat  the  same  sense  as  the  "singing 
contests"  of  the  Eskimos,  inasmuch  as  it  demands  the  same  perfect  self- 
control  on  the  part  of  the  players.  It  is  our  belief  that  the  young  men  who 
excel  in  this  game  so  regard  it,  and  that  this  feeling  of  being  "on  trial,"  in  a 
sense  which  makes  it  a  character  test,  accounts  in  large  measure  for  the 
fascination  of  the  game.  But  aside  from  this,  most  of  the  city  gangs 
impose  some  sort  of  ordeal  upon  the  incoming  members,  while  younger  boys 
not  formally  organized  into  gangs  have  various  ceremonies  of  "bumping," 
stuffing  the  new  boy's  mouth  with  straw  or  earth,  soiling  his  clothes  with 
tar,  and  jokes  of  a  similar  nature. '" 

"Courtship  Plays"  (column  xxix)  were  far  more  numerous  on  the  chil- 
dren's chart,  but  with  this  difference,  that  with  the  little  children,  at  least, 


48  PLAY  ACTIVITIES  OF  ADULT  SAVAGES  AND  CHILDREN 

they  are  mere  play  with  almost  no  meaning.  Rhythm,  song,  and  motion 
are  the  really  attractive  elements  in  them.  The  unmeaning  jumble  of 
words,  which  Mr.  Babcock  found  in  use  in  many  of  the  games  played  by 
Washington  children,  showed  that  the  players  were  scarcely  thinking  of 
what  the  rhymes  meant.  With  the  Eskimo,  however,  the  case,  is  quite 
different.  To  him  a  courtship  game  is  the  "real  thing."  With  the  ending 
of  his  singing  contest  or  wrestling  match  he  wins  or  looses  a  bride. 

The  same  is  true  of  "Religious  Plays"  (column  xxxi).  With  civilized 
children  it  is  a  question  if  any  very  deep  religious  fervor  pervades  their 
plays  of  "funeral,"  "Quaker  meeting,"  and  spirit  communications  by 
"table  rappings."  With  the  Eskimos,  it  is  no  make-believe  when  the 
spirits  of  departed  friends  are  invited  to  share  in  the  songs,  dancing,  and 
festivities  for  the  dead.  The  dead  are  present;  they  listen  to  the  songs 
composed  for  them;  they  partake  of  the  food,  and  when  the  festivities  are 
over,  they  are  given  specific  instructions  to  go  back  to  their  home  in  the 
earth,  or  sea,  or  wherever  it  may  be. 

The  column  "Intellectual  Play"  (column  xxx)  furnished  one  of  the 
most  interesting  comparisons  of  the  whole  study.  On  the  Eskimo  chart  we 
found  the  following  games  and  plays:  original  songs,  story- telling,  carvings, 
checkers  (introduced,  and  not  in  general  use)  map-drawing  (suggested  in 
every  case,  probably,  by  foreigners),  singing  contests  (in  which  the  main 
purpose  is  psychical),  and  angakok  or  shaman  performances  (in  which 
there  is  not  only  a  psychical  motif  but  often  a  considerable  amount  of 
legerdemain). 

On  the  children's  chart,  too,  are  stories,  also  reading  and  "making 
things,"  which  corresponds  somewhat  to  the  inventiveness  shown  in  the 
Eskimo  carvings,  toys,  and  maps.  Then  we  found  several  types  of  intel- 
lectual play  not  represented  on  the  Eskimo  chart.  Some  of  these  are  of  a 
very  low  grade  intellectually,  mostly  played  by  young  children — such  as 
the  guessing  games  of  buttons,  "this  and  that,"  hide  the  thimble,  birds, 
ribbons,  "pretty  maids,"  good  night,  etc.,  in  which  the  intellectual  play  is 
merely  a  guess,  without  any  basis  of  judgment.  But  there  are  other  guess- 
ing games  which  involve  more  intellectuality.  "Hull  gull"  trains  in 
counting,  and  also  has  the  element  of  competition.  Object-guessing,  guided 
by  questions  and  answers,  involves  the  "abstract  judgment."  The  same  is 
true  of  "twenty  questions."  Then  there  is  the  group  of  games  represented 
by  checkers,  backgammon,  and  chess,  and  the  card  games  represented  by 
authors.  Simon  says  "thumbs  up"  is  a  motor-auditory  play;  Jacob  and 
Ruth  and  shouting  proverbs  are  auditory  plays;  philopena,  a  memory 
play;  cross-questions  and  crooked  answers,  forfeits,  and  consequences  are 


PLAYS  OF  CIVILIZED  CHILDREN  49 

humorous  plays.  Then  came  those  of  a  still  more  purely  intellectual 
nature,  such  as  charades,  puzzles,  rebuses,  etc.  All  these  made  a  list  of 
quite  a  different  character  from  those  found  on  the  Eskimo  chart.  With 
the  Eskimos  the  best  intellectual  element  was  found  in  play.  With  the 
children  it  was  found  in  both  play  and  games. 


IV 

GENERAL  COMPARISON  OF  THE  TWO  FIVEFOLD  GROUPS 
WITH  RESPECT  TO  PLAY  CHARACTERISTICS 

On  the  whole,  then,  it  must  be  said,  that: 

1.  Comparing  chart  with  chart,  the  play  of  the  savage  tribes  studied 
and  the  play  of   civilized   children   do   not   run   in   parallel   lines.    All 

the   elements  which   appear  in  savage  play  reappear  in 
Two  Fivefold  ...  .  .  b     f    j         rr 

p  that  of  civilized  children,  but  in  some  respects  the  resem- 

blances are  very  striking,  while  in  others  the  differences 
are  very  great. 

2.  Furthermore,  this  difference  is  not  only  one  of  proportions  in  the 
elements  involved,  but  there  is  also  a  difference  in  quantity  and  kind,  both 
the  number  and  variety  of  games  being  comparatively  very  much  greater 
among  the  children.  In  fact,  Mr.  Crosswell  states  that  his  reports  from 
the  public-school  children  alone  named  over  five  hundred  different  amuse- 
ments. ^° 

With  the  Eskimos  there  is  a  marked  repetition  of  the  same  plays  in  the 
accounts  of  different  authors,  even  where  the  observations  were  many 
hundred  miles  apart  and  among  groups  which  have  no  communication 
with  each  other.  The  children's  chart,  although  including  one  and  one- 
half  times  as  many  plays  as  the  Eskimo  chart,  and  although  the  same 
method  of  recording  has  been  employed,  shows  far  less  repetition. 

3.  There  is  also  a  difference  in  complexity.  This  complexity  is  most 
clearly  shown  in  the  charts,  in  columns  xv,  xvi,  xviii,  xxv,  and  xxx,  but  it  is 
still  more  evident  in  the  process  of  analysis  of  the  games,  the  children's 
games  being  far  more  diflScult  to  separate  into  elements  and  to  redistribute 
into  a  true  classification  of  characteristics.  In  fact,  the  work  was  done  over 
and  over  many  times  before  a  classification  was  found  which  seemed 
satisfactory. 

4.  Further,  a  new  element  disclosed  itself  in  children's  play,  with  the 
appearance  of  "teams,"  "gangs,"  and  "societies,"  namely,  organization 
of  the  group  into  permanent  relations  for  purposes  of  play.  We  find  nothing 
whatever  of  this  in  any  of  the  five  tribes  studied.  The  nearest  approach 
to  it  is  among  the  Central  Australians,  where  certain  groups  have  certain 
totemic  ceremonies  belonging  to  and  played  by  that  group  alone.  But  the 
difference  between  the  two  is  this :   among  the  Australians  the  group  exists 

50 


PLAY  CHARACTERISTICS  OF  TWO  FIVEFOLD  GROUPS  5 1 

because  of  the  totemic  ancestry,  and  independently  of  their  dramatic 
ceremonial  plays,  not  for  the  sake  of  the  plays,  while  with  children  the  "team  " 
and  "gang"  and  many  of  the  "societies"  exist  merely  for  the  sake  of  aug- 
menting the  pleasure  and  efficiency  of  the  participants,  and  the  accomplish- 
ment of  more  difficult  results.  Such  organizations  foster  a  long-sustained 
interest  and  the  pursuit  of  distant  ends. 

5.  Play  among  savages  is  far  less  dissociated  from  the  serious  occupations 
of  life  than  is  the  case  with  children,  except  with  little  children.  In  the 
ordeal  and  religious  plays,  the  singing  contests,  and  in  the  festivals  to  the 
dead,  and  less  truly,  perhaps,  in  the  gambling  games,  there  is  no  dissociation 
at  all.  The  play  is  the  logical  expression  of  their  philosophy  of  living.  And 
even  the  mimetic  plays  and  dances,  and  the  ceremonials  of  the  Australians 
are  not  something  invented  for  play's  sake,  but  a  faithful  reproduction  in 
pantomime  of  what  they  themselves  have  experienced,  or  what  they  believe 
their  ancestors  have  experienced.  So  markedly  true  to  this  dramatic  type 
form  is  the  play  of  the  groups  here  studied,  that  we  are  inclined  to  believe 
that  all  play  in  its  primitive  forms  had  its  genesis  in  actual  experience,  and 
that  it  is  only  when  the  experience  is  forgotten,  or  is  crystallized  into  a  myth, 
that  it  gradually  becomes  conventionalized  and  handed  down  by  one  genera- 
tion to  another  as  a  "traditional"  game.  This  theory  furnishes,  possibly, 
an  additional  explanation  (see  p.  13)  of  why  a  people  so  isolated  as  the 
Veddahs  or  Central  Australians  should  have  such  a  paucity  of  games. 
The  conditions  under  which  they  are  living  are  so  similar  to  those  of  their 
ancestors,  that  their  play  is  still  permeated  with  all  the  associations  which 
it  originally  possessed,  and  their  monotonous  lives  suggest  no  new  associa- 
tions. Hence  their  play  still  retains  its  dramatic  form.  The  Bushmen 
and  Yahgans,  on  the  contrary,  driven  from  one  part  of  the  continent  to 
another  by  the  stronger  tribes  which  pressed  upon  them,  have  had  a  more 
varied  history;  so,  while  retaining  the  activity  of  the  play  as  an  agreeable 
exercise,  they  have,  in  some  cases,  lost  the  particular  associations  origLQally 
surrounding  the  imitative  sport,  and,  keeping  the  form  only,  have  developed 
it,  meanwhile,  into  a  "game  of  skill." 

The  same  process  of  dissociation  of  thought,  through  change  of  habitat, 
has  undoubtedly  taken  place  with  the  Eskimos,  though  in  a  time  long  past. 
But  with  them  the  long  months  of  Arctic  night,  almost  compelling  them  to 
play  or  die,  have  nurtured  the  play  instinct,  and  developed  it  far  beyond 
that  of  similar  savage  tribes  not  thus  thrown  back  upon  their  own  resources 
for  means  with  which  to  pass  away  the  tedious  hours  while  shut  in  by 
darkness  or  storm. 

In  confirmation  of  the  theory  that  games  as  well  as  play  originated  in 


52  PLAY  ACTIVITIES  OF  ADULT  SAVAGES  AND  CHILDREN 

experience,  we  are  fortunately  able  to  quote  from  Rasmussen44  a  descrip- 
tion of  an  Eskimo  game  in  process  of  making.    He  says: 

I  stood  in  the  center  of  a  gay  group,  on  just  such  a  late  summer  evening;  the 
men,  old  and  young,  sat  clustered  round  a  seal-catcher  who  was  making  a  sledge. 
Behind  us  shouting  children  played  their  games. 

Suddenly  one  of  them  called  out,  qaqaitsorssuakutl  which,  in  this  connection, 
means,  "The  men  with  boats  without  masts!" 

The  cry  was  echoed  by  the  whole  tribe  of  them,  and  they  tore  in  a  wild  race  up 
to  the  hills,  where  they  hid  in  the  hollows  of  the  stones. 

I  wanted  to  know  what  it  all  meant,  and  my  question  gave  one  of  the  old 
ones  an  opportunity  of  narrating  an  interesting  legend. 

"Do  you  see  that  low,  black  iceberg  yonder?"  he  began;  "that  is  what  the 
children  are  running  away  from.  In  olden  days,  at  the  approach  of  the  first  dark 
evenings,  there  was  always  a  good  lookout  kept  on  the  sea,  for  it  sometimes 
happened  that  ships  came  into  sight,  out  at  sea,  ships  without  masts.  They  were 
nakasungnaitsut,  the  short-legged  men,  or,  as  they  were  also  called,  qavdlunatsait, 
a  race  of  white  men  who  were  very  warUke;  they  used  to  come  up  here  with  great 
boats,  the  stems  of  which  were  higher  than  the  bows,  so  the  old  people  tell  us. 

"These  white  men  came  originally  from  these  parts,  so  tradition  relates  in  the 
legend  of  the  girl  who  married  a  dog.  These  qavdlunatsait  were  amongst  her 
children ;  when  they  grew  up,  she  made  a  boat  out  of  a  sole  of  a  leather  boot  and 
started  them  out  to  sea,  so  that  they  might  sail  to  the  country  where  the  white  men 
lived. 

"*Ye  shall  be  fighting  men!'  she  had  said  to  them  when  they  went  away. 
These  are  the  words  of  the  legend. 

"After  that,  men  were  always  afraid  of  the  ships  that  came  up  here,  for  they 
invariably  picked  quarrels  and  killed.  But  often  a  dark  iceberg  was  mistaken 
for  them,  and  roused  false  terror  in  the  village;  and  that  is  what  is  now  grown 
into  a  game  among  the  children. 

"One  year  it  was  already  winter  when  sledges,  which  were  out  hunting  wal- 
ruses, discovered  one  of  the  white  men's  big  ships  frozen  up  in  the  ice.  That  was 
out  beyond  Northumberland  Island.  The  people  knew  from  experience  that 
sooner  or  later  these  men  would  come  and  attack  them,  so  they  decided  to  be 
beforehand  with  them. 

"Armed  with  lances  and  harpoons  they  rushed  up  against  them  on  foot. 
The  ice  round  the  ship  was  new  and  smooth,  and  so  they  bound  the  skin  from 
the  palate  of  seals  round  their  feet,  that  they  might  not  slip.  The  white  men 
were  taken  by  surprise,  and,  as  they  found  it  difficult  to  run  on  the  smooth  ice,  it 
was  an  easy  matter  to  overcome  them.  Thus  the  men  from  these  parts  avenged 
the  deaths  of  their  compatriots." 

With  the  above  account  of  the  way  in  which  Eskimo  children  play, 
compare  the  following  accounts  given  by  Mr.  Babcock  in  "Games  of 
Washington  children.  "^ 


PLAY  CHARACTERISTICS   OF  TWO   FIVEFOLD  GROUPS  53 

A  mother  having  children  for  all  the  days  of  the  week  cautions  Sunday,  the 
eldest,  to  "take  care  of  Monday  and  all  the  rest  and  don't  let  them  get  hurt.  If 
you  do  you  know  what  I'll  give  you."  After  the  mother  has  gone  the  witch  comes 
in  and  says:  "Little  girl,  please  go  (pointing)  and  get  me  a  match  for  my  pipe. 
There's  a  bulldog  over  there  and  I  am  afraid  to  go."  She  goes  for  the  match.  He 
snatches  up  Monday  and  makes  off.    The  mother  returns. 

Mother:  "Where  is  my  Monday  gone  ?" 

Simday:  "The  old  witch  has  got  her." 

Mother:  "Do  you  know  what  I  told  you  ?    I'm  going  to  beat  you." 

She  makes  a  pretense  of  doing  so.  This  program  is  repeated  until  all  the 
children  are  stolen  except  Sunday.  At  the  next  visit  the  witch  says,  "Little 
girl,  little  girl,  come  with  me  and  I'll  give  you  some  candy."  She  goes  with  him. 
All  the  children  are  shut  up  in  a  room.  During  the  absence  of  the  witch  the 
mother  breaks  into  it  and  rescues  them. 

The  second  play  is  equally  suggestive. 

Witch  discovered  making  a  fire.  Enter  mother  with  children  behind  her  in 
single  file,  each  grasping  the  clothes  of  the  one  next  in  front.  This  line  marches 
around  singing, 

Chickamy,  chickamy,  cramery,  crow, 
I  went  to  the  well  to  wash  my  toe, 
When  I  came  back  my  chicken  was  gone. 

Pausing  before  the  fire-builder,  the  mother  asks,  in  continuation  of  the  song, 
"What  time  is  it,  old  witch?"  The  Avitch  replies,  "One  o'clock."  The  march 
and  song  are  resumed.  On  coming  around  again,  the  question  is  repeated,  and 
the  answer  is,  "Two  o'clock."  This  is  continued  with  ascending  numerals,  until 
the  twelfth  round.    After  the  answer  "Twelve  o'clock,"  this  conversation  begins: 

Mother:   "What  are  you  doing  there  ?" 

Witch:  "Making  a  fire." 

Mother:  "What  are  you  making  a  fire  for  ?  " 

Witch:  "To  roast  chickens." 

Mother:  "Whose  chickens?" 

Witch  (fiercely):   "Those  of  your  flock." 

She  springs  out  at  them  and  they  scatter On  the  eastern  shore  of  Maryland 

the  mother  fights  for  the  chickens." 

6.  With  the  phylogenetic  group  there  seems  to  be  less  diflferentiation 
between  the  sexes  in  their  choice  of  games  than  with  American  youth.  We 
have  found  no  account  of  women  joining  in  the  wrestling  games  or  any  of 
the  plays  which  are  intended  merely  as  feats  of  strength,  but  they  play 
baseball,  tag,  chase,  leapfrog,  etc.,  even  with  little  babies  in  their  hoods, 
with  quite  as  much  zest  as  do  the  men.^ 

7.  Lastly,  sensation,  perception,  and  judgment,  when  applied  to  acttial 
concrete  conditions,  find  ample  exercise  among  the  five  savage  tribes,  in 


54  PLAY  ACTIVITIES  OF  ADULT  SAVAGES  AND  CHILDREN 

both  play  and  games  (see  p.  41).  The  abstract  or  philosophical  judgment 
and  the  reasoning  powers  find  partial  expression  in  ordeal,  courtship,  and 
religious  plays  and  in  their  festivals,  and,  frequently,  in  the  mimetic  dances 
and  dramatic  ceremonies,  but  not  one  native  game  has  been  discovered  in 
any  of  our  researches  relating  to  these  particular  tribes,  in  which  the  chief 
source  of  enjoyment  consisted  in  purely  intellectual  activity,  such  as,  for 
example,  riddles. 


STUDY  OF  CHILDREN'S  PLAY  BY  PERIODS 

Thus  far  we  have  failed  to  find  a  complete  parallelism  between  our 
phylogenetic  and  ontogenetic  groups.  Shall  we  then  leave  the  subject  with 
these  general  comparisons,  or  shall  we  attempt  still  further 
jx      1  X   to  determine  whether  there  be  any  ground  for  the  theory 

that  the  child  recapitulates  the  experience  of  the  race? 
The  latter  seems  the  more  inviting  course  to  pursue.  The  discussion  of  a 
theory  is  sometimes  more  helpful  than  the  theory  itself,  and  frequently  leads 
the  participants  to  build  better  than  they  know  by  revealing  to  them  that 
the  theory  under  contention  is,  after  all,  but  a  partial  statement  of  a  far 
grander,  richer,  and  more  fundamental  truth  than  they  have  yet  discovered. 

In  the  more  detailed  comparison  which  follows,  of  the  play  of  savages 
and  of  children's  play,  the  attempt  will  be  made  to  discover  whether  the  play 
of  savages  corresponds  to  any  part  of  children's  play,  to  any  partictdar  type, 
or  to  any  particular  period  of  ontogenetic  development. 

In  order  to  accomplish  this  task,  it  will  not  only  be  necessary  to  discover 
the  various  elements  which  enter  into  play — an  analysis  already  performed — 
but  the  partictdar  elements  which  characterize  different  periods  of  a  child's 
development  must  also  be  determined.  In  this  part  of  the  investigation 
we  shall  depend  almost  wholly  upon  data  already  available  through  the 
researches  of  others,  notably  Dr.  G.  Stanley  Hall,  Professor  Barnes,  Messrs. 
Gulick,  Crosswell,  Babcock,  Lindly,  Sheldon,  France,  Monroe,  Culin, 
Kirkpatrick,  Miss  Freer,  Miss  Shinn,  and  others  (see  bibliography).  While 
thus  scanning  the  life  of  the  individual  purely  as  a  matter  of  convenience,  in 
treating  the  subject  by  periods  we  must  be  guarded  at  every  point  against 
any  thought  of  abrupt  transition  from  one  period  to  another.  There  is  no 
exact  moment  when  any  individual  passes  from  infancy  to  childhood,  or 
from  childhood  to  youth,  nor  is  there  any  law  which  applies,  without  varia- 
tion, to  any  individual.  Nevertheless  there  is  a  certain  advantage  in 
isolating  one  period  from  another,  in  order  to  bring  out  its  striking  char- 
acteristics, and  to  get  a  basis  of  comparison  not  othenvise  obtainable.  Such 
a  method,  artificial  though  it  be,  is  helpful  in  grasping  relationships  and  in 
determining  sequences,  if  any  are  to  be  found,  in  the  developing  powers  of 
mind  and  body. 

In  order  to  make  the  exact  nature  of  the  problem  explicit,  it  will  be 
necessary    to    summarize    somewhat   carefully    the    conclusions    already 

55 


56  PLAY  ACTIVITIES  OF  ADULT  SAVAGES  AND  CHILDREN 

reaxihed  on  the  ontogenetic  side.  In  so  doing  we  shall  quote  freely  from 
the  above-named  authors,  adopting,  for  convenience,  the  classification  into 
periods,  as  made  by  Gulick,»3  namely,  (i)  babyhood,  approximately  from 
birth  to  three;  (2)  early  childhood,  from  the  beginning  of  the  third  year  to 
the  seventh ;  (3)  later  childhood,  from  the  beginning  of  the  seventh  year  to  the 
twelfth,  (4)  early  adolescence,  from  the  beginning  of  the  twelfth  to  the  seven- 
teenth year;  (5)  later  adolescence,  from  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth 
year  to  the  twenty-third.  We  will  study  separately  the  characteristics  of 
each  of  these  five  periods. 

What  are  the  plays  of  childhood  and  youth  ?  [says  Gulick].  Do  they  form  a 
logical  and  coherent  whole  ?  Is  there  any  orderly  progression  ?  If  so,  whence 
do  they  start,  and  to  what  do  they  lead  ?  .  .  .  .  Hard  and  fast  divisions  [into 
periods]  cannot  be  made,  not  only  because  they  do  not  exist,  but  because  children 
vary  so  much — some  are  precocious,  others  are  slow.  All  that  is  attempted  is  to 
have  years  in  which  it  is  possible  to  recognize  certain  great  groups  of  activities. 
In  this  classification  it  must  be  remembered  that  each  group  includes  all  the 
preceding.  The  individual  loses  nothing  as  he  grows.  Everything  that  he  has 
acquired  remains  to  him  as  a  joy  and  a  recreation,  if  it  is  in  the  right  relations. 
The  baby  will  play  in  the  sand  for  hours,  making  marks  with  his  fingers,  picking 
up  a  handful  and  letting  it  trickle  out.  Such  simple  plays  as  these  never  lose 
their  interest. 

But  we  do  find  new  interests  coming  in  as  the  child  advances  in  life,  and 
these  new  interests  are  the  elements  which  differentiate  one  period  of  develop- 
ment from  another.  In  order  to  get  a  clear  understanding  of  this  genetic 
or  transitional  aspect  of  the  play  activities,  it  will  be  advisable  to  study  the 
above-named  periods  from  three  distinct  points  of  view,  namely:  (i)  the 
objective  or  factual  standpoint;  (2)  the  subjective  or  psychological  stand- 
point;  (3)  the  biological  standpoint. 

FIRST  PERIOD — FROM   BIRTH  TO   BEGINNING  OF   THIRD   YEAR 

"How  do  babies  play?"  asks  Gulick,  and  answers  the  question  thus: 

All  will  recognize  ....  the  characteristics  of  ...  .  plays  of  babyhood 
....  the  spontaneous  kicking  ....  the  clasping  movements,  the  movements 

of  the  head The  baby  rapidly  progresses  to  playing  in 

.  p.  more  complicated  ways  ....  to  pick  things  up  and  drop  them, 

to  play  with  sand  ....  piling  it  up  and  digging  in  it  with  the 
fingers,  scooping  it  with  the  hand,  digging  it  with  a  stick,  sticking  little  sticks  in  it, 
covering  things  up  with  sand,  and  ....  making  littie  imitations  of  things.  He 
soon  loves  to  play  with  blocks,  pieces  of  wood,  sticks,  straws,  anything  out  of 
which  he  can  construct  something.  He  will  take  delight  in  running  and  throw- 
ing his  arms  at  the  same  time.  Throwing  ....  a  ball  engages  his  passionate 
interest.  '^ 


children's  play  by  periods  57 

We  might  add  to  these  plays  the  peek-a-boo  games  which  babies 
delight  in,  the  stair-climbing,  pounding  on  the  piano,  hiding  behind  chairs, 
the  sensori-motor  "  little-pig- went-to-market"  jingle,  and  in  the  latter  part 
of  the  period,  the  pleasure  in  listening  to  nursery  rhymes  having  a  very 
marked  rhythm,  especially  when  accompanied  by  rhythmic  action. 

Meanwhile,  what  is  going  on  in  the  baby's  mind  ?  So  far  as  we  know, 
the  infant's  first  consciousness  is  an  aggregation  of  sensations  unassociated 
in  consciousness  with  each  other,  and  appearing  gradually 
p,   ^  in  his  psychical  world,  but  bringing  with  them,  neverthe- 

less, affective  characteristics  of  pleasantness  and  unpleasant- 
ness.si  As  the  senses  become  acute  and  the  muscles  more  responsive  to  the 
stimulation  of  the  nerve  endings,  the  lifelong  task  of  investigation  is  begun. 
The  ball  is  pinched,  pounded,  tasted,  the  tin  cup  banged,  the  spoon  dropped, 
the  hair  pulled,  the  face  scratched — at  first  without  purpose,  but  very  soon 
from  choice,  in  order  to  repeat  a  sensation  which  has  once  proved  agreeable. 
When  memory  is  sufficiently  developed  so  that  the  child  chooses  between 
activities,  voluntarily  returning  to  one  rather  than  to  another,  we  say,  "He 
is  playing,"  but  to  the  child  it  is  not  play;  it  is  the  serious  work  of  life,  in 
quite  the  same  sense,  probably,  as  that  of  the  astronomer  who  forgets  all 
else  in  absorption  in  some  new  discovery.  Both  play  with  balls,  each  after 
a  manner  characteristic  of  his  own  stage  of  development. 

But  note  that  the  baby's  absorption  is  in  the  sensation  and  in  the  activity, 
not  in  the  object  for  its  own  sake.  The  child  builds  with  blocks,  but  he  does 
not  care  to  preserve  what  he  builds;  the  sensory  delight  which  comes  with 
the  crash  of  their  downfall  and  the  mere  pleasure  of  doing  are  enough. 

Note,  too,  that  through  all  this  period,  reflex  imitation  is  very  marked. 
The  child  laughs  when  others  laugh,  cries  when  they  cry,  "weeps  with  those 
who  weep,"  shares  their  anger,  imitates  their  gestures  and  tone  of  voice — 
many  times  without  volition,  almost  unconsciously — yet  he  is,  nevertheless, 
enlarging,  meanwhile,  his  world  of  sensation,  and  co-ordinating  muscular 
activity  therewith.  Sensation,  motion,  emotion,  and  their  relations  to  each 
other — these  are  the  problems,  of  no  small  magnitude,  toward  which  the 
baby  mind  is  turned.  Yet  the  greater  part  of  the  intellectual  life  seems  to  be 
an  almost  uncontrolled  response  to  whatever  stimuli,  physical  and  social, 
happen  to  surround  him. 

In  what  general  way  may  we  characterize  these  interests,  these  plays  ?    It  is 

evident  that  they  are  progressive  in  regard  to  complexity  of  movement,  (also)  the 

.  first  movements  ....  of  the  baby  are  feeble  as  compared  to 

p,      ^  his  later  movements;  his  later  movements  are  feeble  as  compared 

to  his  movements  as  a  little  boy Then,  too,  we  may 

easily  see  that  these  movements  are  the  fundamental  ones  that  become  reflex 


58  PLAY  ACTIVITIES  OF  ADULT  SAVAGES  AND  CHILDREN 

during  later  life,  the  earlier  bodily  movements  of  the  baby  certainly  do.  All  the 
mechanics  of  running,  jumping,  throwing,  handling  tools,  and  the  use  of  the  body 
become  thoroughly  reflex  in  later  life,  and  this  is  the  period  in  which  they  are 
becoming  reflex.     It  is  to  be  noted  that  these  activities  are  individualistic.    They 

are  not  games;  the  little  child  does  not  play  games It  is  also  evident  that 

these  earliest  activities  are  common  not  only  to  all  human  races,  but  also  to  the 
higher  animals,  in  varying  degree A  moment's  reflection  on  the  develop- 
ment of  the  nervous  system  will  show  that  we  have  a  most  intimate  relation 
between  this  psychical  development,  and  the  development  of  the  spinal  cord 
and  the  brain.  Recent  investigators  tell  us  that  during  the  first  one  or  two  or 
three  years  of  life,  the  spinal  cord,  together  with  certain  lower  parts  of  the  brain, 
comes  into  almost  complete  activity;  that  it  is  the  period  for  the  acquirement  of  all 
those  activities  that  depend  upon  the  spinal  cord.  These,  as  we  all  know,  are 
the  reflex  activities.  They  constitute  activities  dependent  upon  the  "lower 
level,"  so  called,  of  the  development  of  the  nervous  system,  according  to  the 
Hughlings  Jackson  theory. *3 

SECOND  PERIOD — BEGINNING  OF  THIRD  YEAR  TO  THE  SEVENTH 

During  eariy  childhood — three  to  seven — children  enjoy  building  with  blocks. 
At  first  the  buildings  are  simple  and  regular,  the  blocks  stood  up  in  rows 

more  or  less  distant.  The  idea  of  regularity  appears  to  be  definite, 
p.  but  [there  is]  little  idea  of  symmetry  until  the  latter  part  of  this 

period  and  then  I  suspect  it  is  the  copying  of  older  children. 
Children  enjoy  swinging,  are  fond  of  climbing,  will  climb  low  trees,  will  climb 

banisters,  experiment  with  jumping  from  chairs,  with  jumping  from  steps 

To  cut  things  with  scissors,  or  with  a  knife,  is  the  basis  of  a  whole  group  of 
activities  of  a  play  nature.  Swinging  in  various  forms  he  [the  child]  loves  to  do. 
See-saw  interests  all  children.  The  joggling  board  of  some  of  our  southern  states, 
being  analogous  to  a  large  springboard,  is  of  great  interest.  Riding  hobby  horses, 
driving  a  broom,  and  a  multitude  of  exercises  of  a  similar  nature,  are  common. 
....  Thus  we  see  the  boy  soon  learning  to  shoot  with  bow  and  arrow,  with 
sling,  with  rubber  shooter,  with  the  protean  forms  of  toy  guns.    We  observe  his 

growing  interest  in  work  with  tools The  attachment  for  dolls  comes  in 

the  latter  part  of  this  period  among  girls.  ^^ 

Fortunately,  we  have  a  supplementary  study  upon  children  between  five 
and  six  years  of  age,  of  so  great  value  that  we  quote  at  length.  Miss 
Sisson,53  writing  of  the  free  play  of  her  kindergarten  children  before  school, 
at  recess,  and  at  noon,  states  that  they  "divided  themselves  into  four  distinct 
groups,  though  sometimes  a  play  of  more  than  unusual  interest  would  unite 
them  all."  Concerning  their  spontaneous  choice  of  play  activities,  she 
writes: 

The  first  group  consisted  of  the  older  and  more  active  boys.  Their  plays 
required  much  action.    They  ran,  they  wrestled,  they  climbed  with  all  the  might 


children's  play  by  periods  59 

that  was  in  them.  They  played  a  great  many  highly  imaginative  games,  some 
of  them  rather  rough  and  boisterous.  During  the  time  that  I  observed  them,  not 
quite  two  months,  I  noticed  thirty-one  distinct  kinds  of  spontaneous,  dramatic 
plays,  in  which  almost  all  this  class  of  children  were  engaged;  for  instance,  police- 
man, hunter,  store,  electric-light  men,  etc 

The  next  group  consisted  of  older  girls  and  some  of  the  little  ones,  whom  they 
drew  in  to  play  minor  parts.  Their  games  were  almost  entirely  dramatic,  and 
consisted  usually  of  playing  house  or  playing  school.  These  plays  were  generally 
conducted  very  quietly,  out  on  the  sand  pile  at  first,  where  they  built  the  houses, 
gardens,  etc.,  and  then  when  it  became  rainy,  in  the  hat  room  or  in  the  wood- 
shed  

The  third  group  was  made  up  of  the  smaller  children,  and  one  of  the  older 
but  more  bashful  girls.  They  generally  indulged  in  simple  representative  games, 
but  spent  a  large  portion  of  their  time  running  from  one  part  of  the  yard  to  another, 
because  of  some  passing  whim,  over  to  the  faucet  to  get  a  drink,  or  over  to  the 
sand  pile  to  see  what  the  others  were  doing 

The  last  group  was  a  miscellaneous  remainder They  had  no  leader, 

for  they  were  not  organized The  chief  attraction  to  this  group  was  the 

swing.     They  very  seldom  ran 

The  duration  of  a  game  varied  greatly;  sometimes  it  would  last  but  a  minute 
or  two.  Once  such  a  play  as  the  "wild  hog"  occupied  the  attention  of  the  larger 
boys  for  two  and  one-half  days.  Again  they  had  a  slanting  beam,  on  which  the 
boys  played  for  nearly  the  whole  time  for  nearly  a  week.  One  boy  pounded  a 
bolt  steadily  for  nearly  twenty  minutes;  he  played  that  he  was  mending  a  car, 
and  said  that  he  was  playing  that  the  bolt  was  a  screw,  that  he  needed  a  screw- 
driver, but  as  he  had  only  a  hammer,  he  should  have  to  poimd  with  it.  He 
stopped  only  when  the  bell  rang. 

An  important  point  to  notice  is  the  appearance  of  the  same  play  on  consecutive 
days.  The  swing  has  been  in  use  all  the  time  with  trifling  interruptions,  from 
the  time  it  was  put  up  in  September.  They  slid  and  performed  on  the  beam,  one 
end  of  which  was  on  the  fence,  and  the  other  on  the  ground,  every  day  for  a  month, 

but  at  the  end  of  that  time,  it  was  accidentally  thrown  down Hunting 

either  wild  hogs  or  other  animals  appeared  thirteen  times  during  about  thirty- 
five  days.  Tops  were  on  hand  every  day,  from  October  twenty-sixth,  till  about 
the  first  of  December.  There  were  but  three  or  four  days,  during  the  last  two 
months  of  the  term,  that  the  girls  did  not  play  either  house  or  school.  The 
following  list  of  plays  of  the  larger  boys  will  show  the  order  in  which  these  plays 
occurred,  and  the  frequency  with  which  they  took  place:  October  twenty -fourth, 
Policeman;  twenty-fifth,  Policeman  and  hunters;  twenty -sixth.  Wild  Horses, 
Hunters,  and  Salvation  Army;  thirtieth.  Butcher  and  House;  November  first. 
Butcher,  Jail;  second,  Hunting,  Cars,  Circus;  third.  Butcher,  Band,  Procession; 
sixth,  Band,  Ladder,  Steamer,  and  Circus;  seventh.  Ladder,  played  with  as 
Steam-engine,  and  Circus-train;  eighth.  Ladder,  played  with  as  Pif)e-organ, 
and  then  Wood-saw;  ninth,  with  ladder  as  a  steamer;   thirteenth.  Dragon;  four- 


6o  PLAY  ACTIVITIES  OF  ADULT  SAVAGES  AND  CHILDREN 

teenth,  Wild  Hog;  sixteenth,  Wild  Hog,  Train,  Indians;  seventeenth,  Wild 
Hog,  Indians;  twentieth,  Merry-go-Round;  twenty-first,  Cars;  twenty -second. 
Circus  and  Menagerie;  twenty-third.  Policeman;  twenty-fourth.  Cars;  twenty- 
eighth.  Horse;  December  fifth,  Electric  Light  Men,  Circus;  seventh,  Wild 
Horse,  Bear,  Robbers,  and  Policeman,  Electric  Launch,  Steamer  and  Boats, 
Indians;  eighth,  Indians;  eleventh,  Santa  Claus,  Wild  Horse,  Store,  Street- 
watering  Cars;  twelfth.  Teams  of  Horses,  Telephone. 

The  general  quality  in  the  plays  that  attracted  and  held  the  children  was  action, 
found  either  in  purely  physical  plays  or  dramatic  plays  in  which  all  could  take  part. 
And  in  their  representative  plays,  those  that  dealt  with  natural  objects  had  a  greater 
holding  power  than  those  that  dealt  with  artificial  things. 

As  you  will  have  noticed,  the  traditional  games,  such  as  "London  Bridge" 
and  "Prisoner's  Base"  played  but  little  part  in  the  amusement  of  kindergarten 
children.  Out  of  doors,  the  game  of  "Hide  and  Seek"  was  the  only  organized 
traditional  play  that  was  suggested  by  the  children.  Near  the  beginning  of  the 
term,  I  showed  them  how  to  play  "Drop  the  Handkerchief."  They  enjoyed  it 
then,  but  did  not  call  for  it  themselves.  Sometimes  their  dramatic  play  came  to 
have  a  set  form,  but  that  set  form  was  always  at  the  mercy  of  the  leader,  who 

varied  it  to  suit  himself Though  the  children  are  still  very  imitative,  they 

seemed  to  have  developed  a  good  deal  of  originaUty,  and  independence.  For 
instance,  when  they  were  standing  on  the  ring  in  the  kindergarten,  ready  for  their 
games,  I  asked  the  musician  to  play  an  unfamiliar  tune,  and  told  the  children  to 
do  anything  they  liked  as  long  as  the  music  continued.  These  are  the  answers  the 
children  gave  me  as  to  what  they  did,  the  last  time  we  did  this:  "Hopped," 
"crawled  as  a  horse,"  "elephant,"  "grasshopper,"  "black-legged  man,"  "bird," 
"scare-crow,"  "bear,"  "river,"  "sand-bug,"  "wheel."  You  will  notice  that  but 
two  played  the  same  thing.     You  will  notice  that  but  one  confined  himself  to  the 

purely  physical  desire  for  motion,  all  the  others  being  representative Only 

the  older  children  were  present  when  this  observation  was  made. 

The  plays  seemed  to  come  from  two  entirely  different  sources.  The  first  was 
the  compelling  power  of  the  leader.  A  child  obliged  the  other  boys,  by  means 
of  his  personal  influence,  to  make  the  ladder  a  wood-saw,  when  they  wanted  it  to 
be  a  steamer.  He  could  almost  always  draw  the  boys  of  his  group  into  the  play  he 
wanted.  Second,  the  special  novelty  or  interest  in  the  play  itself  led  to  its  choice, 
even  when  not  forced  upon  the  attention  of  the  school  by  an  aggressive  child. 
Thus  the  boys  were  greatly  delighted  with  the  idea  of  becoming  acrobats,  and 
without  any  incentive  but  the  pleasure  of  the  act  itself  each  boy  tried  for  days  to 
equal  the  feats  of  Lewis,  a  quiet,  non-aggressive  boy. 

Both  these  classes  of  play  were  suggested  by  the  environment  of  the  children. 
Every  public  event  which  they  saw  in  the  world  around  them,  or  heard  talked 
about  by  grown  people,  was  mirrored  in  their  play.  But  whatever  they  did,  or 
from  whatever  reason  they  did  it,  their  whole  hearts  went  into  their  play.  It  was 
an  expression  of  the  children  themselves,  and  a  truer  one  than  any  set  exercise  or 
experiment  could  give. 


children's  play  by  periods  6i 

Now,  what  are  the  subjective  or  psychological  characteristics  of  these 
plays?    Sensation  still  affords  great  delight  to  the  child,  but  rhythmic 

motions,  sounds,  and  plays — the  characteristic  of  which  is  to 
p.  reinforce  the  effect  of  isolated  sensations — are  eagerly  sought. 

Sensori-motor  plays  still  have  a  strong  hold  upon  the  child, 
but  they  are  enjoyed  not  merely  for  the  sake  of  the  sensation  or  action,  but 
sensation  and  action  now  have  definite  meaning.  The  child  "emerges  into 
a  world  of  things,  as  opposed  to  a  world  of  sensations."  But  a  world  of 
things  implies  lively  perceptive  and  apperceptive  activies  both  of  which  are 
undoubtedly  uppermost  in  all  the  imitative  and  dramatic  plays  which 
reach  their  climax  at  about  the  sixth  or  eighth  year.  Furthermore, 
the  effect  of  the  action,  as  well  as  the  action  itself;  control  of  environ- 
ment, as  well  as  mere  stimulation  by,  and  reaction  to,  environmental 
influences;  manipulation  and  choice  of  means  to  accomplish  definite  ends; 
and  eager  welcoming  of  any  new  experience,  these  enter  into  all  the 
spontaneous  plays.  The  general  type  is  still  largely  instinctive  and  is 
highly  imitative  in  character. 

The  child  is  immensely  inquisitive  [says  Gulick]  and  wishes  to  find  things  out. 
Its  play  is  largely  influenced  by  this  feeling.  I  do  not  think  that  the  destructive 
play  of  boys  is  merely  destructive.    It  is  related  to  the  acquisition  of  knowledge 

and  of  the  construction  of  other  things Children   before   seven  rarely 

play  games*  spontaneously.  They  do  so  sometimes  vmder  the  stimulus  of  older 
children  or  of  adults.  The  same  fact  may  be  stated  in  regard  to  competition. 
The  plays  before  seven  are  almost  exclusively  non -competitive. '^ 

Comparing  the  plays  of  this  period  with  those  of  babyhood,  I  would  say  that 

they  are  far  more  constructive,  far  greater  in  range,  that  the  muscular  movements 

involved  were  larger,  more  powerful,  more  sustained,  but  still 

^  of  much  the  same  character.     Unless  influenced  by  adults,  there 

is  but  little  fine  work  with  the  fingers  and  wrists,  not  very  much 

of  delicate  co-ordination.     The  movements  are  the  larger  movements  of  the 

trunk,  shoulders,  and  elbows.     It  is  a  time  of  great  activity.     There  is  but  little 

sitting  still  or  keeping  still  when  awake ^^ 

[Physiologically,  the'brain  has  attained  nearly  its  full  size  by  the  seventh  or 
eighth  year;  medullation  in  the  peripheral  system  is  almost  completed  in  the  first 
five  years,  and  the  limbs  are  growing  rapidly.] 

THIRD   PERIOD — YEARS  SEVEN  TO   TWELVE 

We  quote  again  from  Gulick  as  to  the  games  characteristic  of  the  period 
seven  to  twelve. 

*  Italics  mine. 


62  PLAY  ACTIVITIES  OF  ADULT  SAVAGES  AND  CHILDREN 

The  ball  games  are  played,  "one  old  cat,"  an  elementary  baseball  game, 
swimming  and  rowing Boys  delight  in  the  use  of  tools  during  this  period, 

and  in  building  all  sorts  of  things,  making  little  streams  and  dams, 
p.  paddle-wheels  and  boats,  simple  machinery  of  all  kinds.    Many 

games  are  now  played,  "duck  on  the  rock,"  "black  man,"  "blind- 
man's-buff,"  "crockinol,"  "croquet,"  "leapfrog,"  simple  feats  of  all  kinds,  turn- 
ing somersaults,  rolling  over  backwards,  marbles,  "mumble  the  peg,"  "prisoner's 
base,"  "puss  in  the  comer,"  "tiddledywinks,"  "touchwood."  ....  Girls  play 
some  of  these  games,  "hunt  the  handkerchief,"  many  games  in  which  the  circle 

is  used During  what  I  have  called  later  childhood — from  seven  to  twelve 

....  we   have    the   height   of  ...  .  housekeeping   arrangements At 

about  ten  the  interest  in  dolls  seems  to  wane,  but  taking  its  place  is  an  interest  in 

babies Every  one  of  our  babies  has  been  borrowed  by  neighbors'  children 

of  about  this  age Boys  do  not  borrow  our  babies Boys  want 

knives  to  whittle,  all  sorts  of  plays  with  strings,  flying  kites.  *3 

Mr.  Stewart  Culin's  study  on  "Street  Games  of  Boys  in  Brooklyn,  New 
York""  has  a  special  interest  for  us  just  here,  in  the  fact  that  his  informa- 
tion was  obtained  from  a  lad  of  ten  years  who  had  himself  taken  part  in  all 
the  games.  We  may  be  sure  then  that  they  are  truly  representative  of  the 
period  of  which  we  are  speaking,  although  we  might  expect  the  emphasis 
to  shift  somewhat,  from  the  simpler  to  the  more  complex  games  during 
the  next  year  or  two.  He  gives  us  a  list  of  thirty-nine  games  and  plays, 
an  analysis  of  which  has  been  made  in  the  children's  chart,  under  Mr. 
Culin's  name.  The  "gangs"  apparently  belong  to  an  older  period,  as 
Mr.  Culin's  informant  knew  very  little  about  them,  or  it  may  be  that  they 
are  becoming  less  popular  than  formerly,  as  other  sources  of  enjoyment 
become  available. 

During  these  years  from  seven  to  twelve  we  are  able  to  see  more  clearly 
than  before  a  distinct  culmination  of  some  types  of  play  and  the  origin  of 
other  types.  For  example,  the  imitation  of  single  objects 
Phaip  ^^  "sandbug,"  "grasshopper,"  "wild  hog,"  "policeman," 

and  so  forth,  had  already  passed  its  zenith  before  the  begin- 
ning of  this  period,  but  social  imitation,  plajring  school,  store,  housekeeping, 
etc.,  still  holds  its  sway  until  about  the  tenth  year,  when  it  begins  to  decline. 
According  to  Monroe,  three-fourths  of  such  plays  are  by  children  under 
eleven  years  of  age.  The  same  is  true  of  the  rhythmic  games,  such  as 
ring-round-rosy,  and  farmer-in-the-dell,  which  in  the  early  part  of  the 
period  appealed  so  strongly  to  the  children,  especially  to  the  girls.35 

After  the  ninth  year,  toys  used  simply  as  toys  give  way  to  those  which 
require  some  skill  in  manipulating,  such  as  stilts,  skates,  marbles — ^but 
"marbles  are  rarely  mentioned  after  thirteen,"  "croquet  reaches  the  height 


children's  play  by  periods  63 

of  popularity  at  thirteen."  About  the  beginning  of  this  period,  riddles  and 
guessing  games  culminate  in  interest,  puzzles  from  ten  to  twelve,  and  geomet- 
ric puzzles  at  the  thirteenth  year.  In  these,  and  in  most  of  the  other  games, 
"the  child  desires  not  only  power  to  do,  but  aims  at  quickness,  dexterity, 
endurance,  accuracy.  He  holds  before  himself  a  certain  standard  of 
excellence."  "Perception,  memory,  and  reproduction  are  not  only  used 
but  tested. "^°  "Games  requiring  some  thought,  such  as  'twelve-men-o'- 
Morris,'  begin  to  come  into  favor. "3 

Moreover,  the  delight,  not  only  in  muscular  activity,  but  activity  of  a 
very  vigorous  type,  becomes  very  marked.  At  six  only  11  per  cent  of  all 
games  mentioned  are  games  of  chase;  after  the  eighth  year  such  games 
outnumber  the  others  in  the  ratio  of  2:1.  Chase  games  reach  their  height 
by  ten,  and  games  of  contest  begin  to  take  their  place.  The  transition 
from  toys  to  games  means  not  only  that  organized  activities,  that  is,  play 
which  has  set  rules,  supplants,  in  a  measure,  the  unorganized  activities  of 
early  childhood,  but  social  feeling  also  becomes  stronger,  as  opposed  to  the 
marked  individualism  of  the  earlier  period,  in  which  respect  they  form  a 
strong  contrast. 

Meanwhile,  the  end  to  be  attained  in  the  play  has  become  more  remote 
and  complex,  and  a  tendency  to  form  social  organizations,  in  order  to 
accomplish  this  end,  develops  during  the  latter  part  of  this  period,  which 
implies  also  development  of  life  outside  the  home  circle. 

We  have  seen  [too]  how  parental  [traditional]  influence  was  still  a  factor  in 
determining  the  plays  of  the  Swedish  children  of  Worcester.  Here  again  is  a 
most  striking  instance  of  a  game,  "relievo,"  nourished  and  developed  until  it  is 
mentioned  by  a  third  of  all  the  Worcester  boys,  and  yet  apparently  played  but 
little  by  the  boys  of  Brooklyn,  a  little  more  than  one  hundred  miles  distant.  But 
the  interesting  feature  of  it  all  is  the  substitution  of  games  of  the  same  class.  In 
Brooklyn,  "pass  walk"  and  "prisoner's  base,"  appear  to  be  the  substitutes  for 
"relievo,"  while  general  observation  in  Chicago  and  vicinity  puts  "Pomp,  pomp 
pull-away"  in  its  place. '° 

Summary. — Summing  up,  now,  the  psychical  characteristics  of  the 
children's  play  during  the  years  seven  to  twelve,  the  following  appear  to  be 
the  most  marked: 

1.  A  great  number  and  variety  as  compared  with  the  preceding  periods. 

2.  During  the  first  half  of  the  period,  great  interest  in  dramatic  plays, 
housekeeping,  store,  etc.,  then  a  decline  from  that  time  onward. 

3.  The  social  element  of  play  has  become  very  much  more  important, 
especially  after  the  tenth  or  eleventh  year. 

4.  The  interest  in  performing  simple  feats,  such  as  turning  somersaults. 


64  PLAY  ACTIVITIES  OF  ADULT  SAVAGES  AND  CHILDREN 

juggling,  and  so  forth,  prominent  in  the  beginning  of  the  period,  gradually 
gives  way  to  chase  games  which  reach  their  height  in  popularity  at  ten, 
then  gradually  themselves  give  way  to  group  games  of  contest,  which,  how- 
ever, do  not  attain  their  greatest  influence  until  during  the  next  period. 

5.  A  very  marked  characteristic  of  the  games  of  competition,  especially 
prominent  in  the  first  half  of  the  period,  is  the  ideal  which  the  child  holds 
before  himself  of  dexterity,  quickness,  endurance,  or  accuracy,  that  is  to 
say,  a  definite,  conscious  self-training  in  motor  adjustment  and  control. 

6.  The  simple  guessing  games  which  were  played  at  the  beginning 
of  the  period  are  soon  replaced  by  those  of  a  more  intellectual  type,  for 
example,  twelve-men-o'-Morris,  checkers,  authors,  and  various  other  games 
of  cards. 

7.  As  in  the  first  and  second  periods  the  activities  were  instinctive  in 
t3rpe,  so  also  in  the  third  group  we  still  find  the  growing  body  determining 
the  type  of  physical  reactions,  but  superimposed  upon  these  are  the  mold- 
ing influences  of  tradition,  and  of  differentiation  due  to  sex  preferences. 
Gulick  says  of  this  period: 

In  the  main  this  group  of  activities  starts  in  most  individuals  between  seven 
and  twelve.     It  is  a  higher  group  of  interests  than  those  that  ripen  in  the  earlier 

stage It  is  a  gradual  shading  off  of  emphasis  from  a  group  of  activities 

whose  center  of  interest  is  one's  self  to  a  group  whose  center  of  interest  is  one's 

self  in  relation  to  others In  the  main  ....  more  complex  intellectual 

activities  are  involved — competition  is  a  characteristic  of  nearly  all  of  these 
plays.  More  complicated  muscular  movements  are  involved,  and  a  higher  degree 
of  foresight  than  in  the  first  group. 

Many  of  the  movements  of  this  group  become  reflex,  but  they  are  reflexes  of 
a  very  high  order,  so  high  that  we  usually  do  not  call  them  reflexes.  These  activities 
we  may  characterize  as  due  to  tradition,  for  while  we  find  such  activities  among 
aU  children,  they  vary  among  the  different  classes  far  more  than  do  the  activities 
of  the  first  group.     The  tradition  of  the  group  of  boys  determines  the  specific 

direction  that  the  interest  of  the  individual  should  take We  may  further 

characterize  this  group  as  constituting  in  a  general  sense  the  play  life  of  the  young 
of  all  higher  races;  they  vary  in  different  parts  of  the  world  but  the  bodily  and 
mental  qualities  demanded  by  these  sports  are  virtually  the  same  in  Africa  and 
England,  in  China  and  America.    The  richness  of  these  plays  varies  ....  but 

these  are  questions  of  degree,  and  not  of  kind [Tag]  plays  are  foimd  in 

various  forms  all  over  the  world.  They  are  played  by  all  races  of  people,  although 
it  appears  that  among  the  lower  peoples  they  are  not  taken  up  by  so  young  children 
as  they  are  among  those  that  are  further  advanced. '' 

8.  The  games  of  this  period  differ  very  much  between  boys  and  girls — 
a  differentiation  that  is  far  more  marked  than  it  is  in  the  earlier  group. 


children's  play  by  periods  65 

Hughlings  Jackson  already  quoted  speaks  of  the  spinal  cord  and  of  the  lower 
part  of  the  brain  as  the  "lower  level"  of  the  nervous  system.     It  is  the  reflex 
.  level.    The  second  level  of  development  is  the  "sensori-motor" 

p,      °  brain,  and  comprises  about  one-third  of  the  cortex.     The  chief 

years  for  the  development  of  this  second  level  are  during  what  I 
have  characterized  as  the  middle  period  ....  the  years  from  seven  to  twelve. 
All  the  finer  motor  and  sensory  development  find  their  chief  growth  during  these 
years.  The  upper  level,  so  called,  by  this  theory  has  to  do  apparently  more  with 
the  inhibiting  and  co-ordinating  capacity  of  the  brain.  *3 


FOURTH  PERIOD — TWELVE   TO   SEVENTEEN 

At  sixteen  the  chase  games  which  were  so  prominent  a  feature  in  the 
preceding  period  have  fallen  to  less  than  4  per  cent.,  while  contest  games 

have  come  in  to  take  their  place.    At  thirteen  one-third  of 
p.  all  the  games  are  of  contest,  and  the  proportion  steadily 

rises  until  at  sixteen  they  are  to  other  games  as  4 :  i .  Mean- 
while, the  end  to  be  attained  in  the  game  has  become  more  remote.  After 
thirteen  the  interest  in  puzzles  declines.  In  their  questionnaires,  the  boys 
and  girls  of  about  this  age  begin  to  give  reasons  for  this  or  that  interest, 
indicating  that  the  critical  judgment  is  becoming  active.  From  ten  to 
fourteen  predatory  and  athletic  and  military  societies  greatly  increase  in 
number.  A  stronger  tendency  to  withdraw  from  the  home  circle  is  shown. 
Strife  for  mastery  is  more  characteristic  of  boys;  the  quieter  type  of  contests, 
furnished  in  cards,  is  more  characteristic  of  girls, 
Gulick  says  of  this  period: 

Coming  now  to  our  third  major  division,  we  find  still  more  highly  organized 
plays  and  games.  These  begin  approximately  at  twelve.  ....  They  may 
begin  earlier  or  may  be  postponed;  in  some  individuals  they  doubtless  never  begin. 
Attention  is  called  to  the  characteristics  of  this  group  of  games — baseball,  basket- 
ball, football,  cricket,  hockey  are  the  chief  games  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  young  man. 
The  plays  of  the  period  are  usually  done  in  gangs  or  groups,  which  show  the 
aggregating  capacity  of  the  Saxon.  Boys  have  their  pals,  homogeneous  groups 
that  maintain  their  personnel  often  for  years.  It  is  peculiarly  the  time  for  hero 
worship,  and  for  its  characterization  by  the  plays  of  the  period.  All  of  these  games 
and  plays  show  the  instinct  for  co-operation.  The  games  all  demand  that  the 
individual  subordinate  himself  to  the  group.  Team  work  is  the  keynote  of  this 
group  as  individual  excellence  was  of  the  preceding.  I  do  not  mean  by  this  that 
boys  always  do  team  work,  for  they  do  not.  I  do  mean  that  that  is  the  ideal  that 
these  games  represent,  without  which  it  is  impossible  to  secure  superiority. 
Little  boys  will  play  football  and  seem  to  violate  this  orderly  development  that 
otherwise  obtains  ....  (but)  team  work  is  comparatively  rare.    Football  and 


66  PLAY  ACTIVITIES  OF  ADULT  SAVAGES  AND  CHILDREN 

baseball,  as  played  by  little  boys,  is  a  game  of  individual  excellence,  each  player 
doing  as  well  as  he  possibly  can,  but  not  sacrificing  himself  for  the  sake  of  the 
team  in  which  he  is  playing 

These  plays  demand  a  higher  degree  of  mental  and  moral  qualities  than  do  the 
preceding.  The  captain  of  a  team  must  exercise  qualities  of  a  high  order,  analo- 
gous to  those  exercised  by  a  successful  chief.   We  note  then,  two 

p,   ^  major  elements,  co-ordination  and  self-sacrifice Savages 

who  have  reached  the  stage  of  co-operation  are  doing  that  which 

the  Anglo-Saxon  boy  commences  to  do  soon  after  he  is  twelve These  group 

activities  involve  not  merely  the  subordination  of  self  and  elevation  of  the  group, 
but  the  pursuit  of  a  distant  end  by  means  of  definite  steps,  usually  indirect,  having 
a  more  or  less  definite  program;  involve  obedience  to  a  leader,  even  when  he  is 
evidently  mistaken;  involve  self-control,  loyalty  to  the  group  as  a  whole,  and  in 

varying  degrees,  the  despising  of  pain  and  of  individual  discomfort Those 

activities  that  call  for  the  highest  things  in  boy  life,  that  arouse  the  most  passionate 
enthusiasm,  are  those  that  involve  this  group  activity — loyalty  to  college  or  country, 
some  objective  end  rather  than  a  subjective  one 

Recent  investigations  of  Flechsig  and  other  observers  have  shown  that  the 
period  commencing  about  twelve  corresponds  in  the  development  of  the  brain  to 
.  the  particular  growth  of  the  so-called  tangential  fibers,  connecting 
p.  *  the  different  parts  of  the  cortex.  These  tangential  fibers  are 
exceedingly  fine,  occur  in  three  main  layers  and  are  related 
prominently  to  those  parts  of  the  brain  that  are  neither  sensory  nor  motor.  They 
are  association  fibers.  Flechsig  now  goes  on  into  the  realm  of  what  is  not  demon- 
strated, and  maintains  that  those  areas  of  the  brain  are  for  association  purposes, 
and  hence  he  characterizes  them  as  association  areas.  And  further,  that  all  the 
higher  capacity  in  the  individual  in  higher  directions  is  related  to  this  assodational 
area  development.  This  certainly  fits  in  with  observed  facts,  that  independent 
eason  has  its  chief  pulse  of  growing  life,  beginning  with  approximately  the  same 
year — twelve — as  do  these  tangential  fibers '^ 

[Kaiser  found  that  the  niunber  of  developed  neurons  in  the  cervical  enlarge- 
ment in  man  more  than  doubled  from  birth  to  the  fifteenth  year  and  twice  as  many 
in  the  right  hand  as  in  the  left.] 


FIFTH   PERIOD — YEARS  SEVENTEEN  TO  TWENTY-THREE 

During  later  adolescence — seventeen  to  twenty-three — there  is  a  development 

of  these  same  plays  and  games,  but  they  are  sufficiently  different,  so  as,  I  think, 
to  warrant  making  a  separate  group  of  them.    The  plays  are 

p,  pushed  to  the  limit  of  endurance  and  strength,  as  they  are  not  dur- 
ing the  earlier  adolescent  period There  is  a  depth  and 

intensity  about  it  that  older  people  can  hardly  realize,  unless  they  have  been 

through  it. 


children's  play  by  periods 


67 


[Perhaps  the  most  marked  psychological  characteristic  of  this  period  is  grow- 
ing willingness  to  endure  all  extremes  of  hardship  in  accomplishing  self-imposed 

„   ,  .     ,,  and  dangerous  tasks  in  order  that  the  "team"  or  "college"  or 

Subjective     „     .  ,  ,7  .       t,,        .  •      .    i-      ^u  ^  u         „ 

Phase  society     may  wm.     There  is  a  growing  feelmg  that     group 

interests  are  something  more  worthy  of  sacrifice  than  mere  personal 

victory.     May  it  not  be  that,  as  the  author  just  quoted  suggests,  this  shifting  of 

motive,  from  purely  egoistic  interests  to  the  interests  of  a  group,  is  the  forerunner 

of  the  truly  altruistic  spirit  soon  to  manifest  itself  in  obedience  to  the  obligations 

of  home,  society,  and  country  ?  ] 

The  whole  nervous  and  muscular  apparatus,  having  been  fairly  well  con- 
structed during  later  childhood  and  adolescence,  is  now  tested  and  knitted  together 

.  with  vigor  and  given  endurance  and  staying  power. 

p.      ^  [Seventeen  is  the  year  when  boys  are  growing  most  rapidly. 

The  lungs  reach  their  maximum  weight  about  twenty.] 

[5Mmwar;y.]— Comparing  now  the  three  major  groups — early  childhood,  later 
childhood,  and  adolescence — it  appears  that  the  plays  of  early  childhood  are 
individualistic,  non -competitive,  and  for  the  accomplishment  and  observation  of 
objective  results.  The  plays  of  Jater  childhood  are  individualistic,  competitive, 
involve  active  muscular  co-ordinations  and  sense  judgments.  The  plays  of  later 
adolescence  are  socialistic,  demanding  the  heathen  virtues  of  courage,  endurance, 
self-control,  bravery,  loyalty,  enthusiasm,  and  the  savage  occupations  of  himting, 
fishing,  swimming,  rowing,  sailing 

Plays  are  progressive  and  that  which  is  the  greatest  fun  at  one  time  is  not  at 
another,  because  the  life  itself  is  progressive ="3* 


I.  Babyhood 

(age  approximately  1-3) 


Suggestive  Summary 

Spontaneous  involimtary  movements  of  head, 
hands,  legs,  body. 

Volimtaiy  movements. 

General  activities  basal,  i.e.,  those  which  will 
be  used  so  constantly  throughout  life  as 
to  become  reflex. 

Reflex  imitation  marked. 

Volition  appears  in  choosing  between  vm- 
pleasant  and  pleasant  experiences. 

Growing  control  of  muscles. 

Delight  in  sensory  stimulation. 

Type  of  play  instinctive. 

A  world  of  sensation  and  involuntary  re- 
sponse. 

Spinal  cord  and  "lower  level"  of  brain  come 
into  almost  complete  activity. 


♦Italics  mine. 


68 


PLAY  ACTIViriES   OF  ADULT  SAVAGES  AND  CHILDREN 


2   Early  Childhood 

(age  approximately  3-7) 


Activities  similar  to  above,  but  more  complex. 

Muscles  stronger. 

Play    largely    instinctive.    Almost    constant 

activity. 
Growing  delight  in  rhythmic  stimulation. 
Imitation,   both  reflex  and  voluntary,   very 

strongly  developed. 
Great  absorption  in  play. 
Little     differentiation     between     play    and 

reality. 
The  world  a  world  of  sensation,  perception, 

apperception. 
Individualistic  rather  than  co-operative. 
Brain  reaches  nearly  full  size. 


3.  Later  Childhood 

(age  approxdiately  7-12) 


Running  games  and  others  requiring  vigorous 

exercise  strongly  characteristic. 
Dramatization,    i.e.,    social    imitation    very 

strong. 
Games  of  skill,  i.e.,  self-training,  and  games 

of  competition,  very  characteristic. 
The  end  in  play  more  remote  than  in  previoxis 

group. 
The  period  of  greatest  number  and  variety  of 

games. 
Great  interest  in  "stunts." 
Amusements  "traditional,"  and  games  rather 

than  play. 
Beginning  of  social  organizations. 
Some  co-operation. 
Intellectual    plays,     e.g.,     riddles,     puzzles, 

board  games. 
Sensation,  perception,  apperception,  and  the 

"practical"  judgment,  all  active. 
Slight   differentiation   of   play   between    the 

sexes. 
Chief  period  of  development  of  sensori-motor 

brain. 


children's  play  by  periods 


69 


4.  Early  Adolescence 

(age  approximately  12-17) 


Somatic  activity  great. 

Chase  games  give  way  to  games  of  contest. 

Sex  diflference  in  choice  of  games  is  marked. 

Life  outside  the  home  circle  becomes  more 
attractive. 

"Group  games,"  "gangs,"  "societies"  and 
"teams,"  replace  "individual"  play.  Or- 
ganizations permanent  as  well  as  tempo- 
rary. 

Perception,  apperception,  critical  judgment, 
active. 

Chief  development  of  "association  fibers"  0} 
brain. 


5.  Later  Adolescence 

(age  approximately  17-23) 


Plays  similar  but  more  intense — pushed  to 

limit  of  endurance. 
Socialistic  elements  predominant. 
Social  judgment  and  reasoning  powers  active. 
The  world  a  world  of  ideals. 
Companions  tested  by  ordeals. 
Seventeen  the  year  of  most  rapid  growth  for 

boys. 
Lungs  reach  maximum  weight  about  twenty. 
Somatic  growth  almost  completed  by  end  of 

period. 


VI 

COMPARISON  OF  SAVAGE  PLAY  WITH  SUCCESSIVE 
PERIODS  OF  CHILDREN'S  PLAY 

With  such  fidelity  as  available  data  have  made  possible  (i)  we  have 
now  determined  the  elements  of  the  play  characteristics  of  five  representative 
savage  tribes;  (2)  by  the  same  method  we  have  analyzed  the  play  of  five 
groups  of  American  children  from  five  representative  cities  and  localities 
of  the  United  States;  (V)  we  have  made  a  general  comparison  of  the  two 
groups  of  play  charactenstics;  (4)  have  made  a  further  study  of  children's 
play  by  periods.  It  will  be  our  next  effort  (5)  to  compare  the  play  of  our 
fivefold  savage  group  with  each  of  the  periods  of  child  play,  in  order  to  find 
whether  it  does  or  does  not  correspond  to  any  particular  one  of  them.  So 
far  as  can  be  judged  by  the  analysis  of  savage  play,  the  Veddahs  stand 
lowest  on  the  list  in  respect  to  development,  and  the  Eskimos  highest. 
Many  other  lines  of  comparison  confirm  this  view.  Whatever  category 
includes  these  two  extremes,  then,  must  of  necessity  include  the  other 
tribes.  Let  us  consider  the  subject  in  the  light  which  the  study  suggested 
by  the  three  general  rubrics  of  our  charts  has  shed  upon  the  problem.  We 
found  that: 

I.  In  all  the  five  groups  of  savages  play  is  characterized  by  activity  of  the 
whole  body.     This  is  also  true  of  every  one  of  the  five  periods  into  which 
the  study  of  civilized  children  has  been  divided.     Thus  far 
Char*aiteri8-     the  two  fivefold  groups  correspond. 

llQQ  2.  Both  moderate  and  violent  exercise  is  typical  of  savage 

play,  as  is  the  case  with  children,  and  when  we  read  that  the 
Veddah  or  Australian  dances  until  he  falls  exhausted  to  the  ground;  that  the 
Yahgans  sometimes  become  so  excited  in  their  wrestling  matches,  and  the 
manoeuvers  so  brutal,  that  fatal  consequences  result  (p.  23) ;  and  that  the 
Eskimo  hugs  his  opponent  with  a  grip  which  may  cause  the  blood  to  gush 
forth  from  his  mouth,  we  cannot  but  think  that  the  "intensity"  of  the  play 
is  very  comparable  to  that  of  modem  "team"  games.  In  this  respect  it  may 
be  said,  then,  that  parallelism  between  the  non-civilized  adults  and  civilized 
children  and  youth  is  complete  up  to  the  end  of  the  periods  represented  on 
the  charts,  namely  the  twenty-third  year. 

3.  With  respect  to  games  requiring  a  delicate  sensori-motor  co-ordina- 
tion, and  involving  special  volitional  training  of  the  finer  muscles,  almost 

70 


COMPARISON  OF  SAVAGE  PLAY   WITH  CHILDREN'S   PLAY  7 1 

none  are  found  among  the  Veddahs  and  Australians,  but  the  arrow  contest 
of  the  Bushmen  indicates  exquisite  control  of  arm  and  hand  muscles,  and 
many  games  of  the  Eskimos  are  calculated  to  train  those  muscles. 

With  the  children's  group,  however,  there  are  in  addition  to  such  plays, 
finger  plays,  vocal  plays,  visual,  tactual,  auditory,  and  perceptual  plays, 
having  almost  nothing  to  correspond  to  them  among  the  non-civilized  adults, 
but  which  are  indulged  in  by  quite  young  children  among  civilized  peoples. 
The  children  also  have  a  larger  proportion  of  running  games.  These  facts 
suggest,  at  least,  a  keener  sensitivity  and  somewhat  more  specialized  muscu- 
lar control  on  the  part  of  civilized  children.  Some  of  the  studies  which  have 
been  made  in  experimental  psychology  seem  to  confirm  this  view^s^  but  the 
subject  will  be  further  discussed  in  a  future  paper  already  referred  to. 

The  most  characteristic  types  of  play  organization  in  our  non-civilized 
group   are  described  by  the  words   "Individual"  and  "Homogeneous" 
.  groups,  and  "Unorganized  Play,"  but  the  "Double  Homo- 

geneous  Group  also  finds  representation  m  at  least  three 
of  the  tribes,  Australians,  Bushmen,  and  Eskimos,  and  the  Eskimos  have  a 
few  games  in  which  there  is  some  differentiation  of  parts.  They  are  so  few, 
however,  and  so  local  and  so  seldom  mentioned  by  the  authors  who  report 
them,  that  they  cannot  be  called  typical,  and  some  of  these,  even,  are  appar- 
ently introduced  games.  In  so  far  then  as  the  organization  of  play  is  com- 
parable to  any  particular  periods  of  the  children's  series,  it  would  seem  to 
correspond  most  nearly  to  the  third  and  to  the  earlier  part  of  the  fourth,  that 
is,  to  the  years  between  seven  and  fifteen. 

The  parallelism  is  not  complete,  however,  for  long  before  the  end  of  this 
period  civilized  children  are  showing  a  considerable  tendency  to  organize 
themselves  into  societies,  both  spontaneous  and  formal.  Moreover,  boys 
and  girls  who  have  reached  the  age  of  fifteen  have  long  since  dropped  such 
childish  plays  as  "making  faces,"  cat's-cradle,  etc.,  unless  for  the  sake 
of  amusing  younger  children,  while  they  are  still  retained  by  the  savages 
as  amusements  for  adults. 

In  the  psychological  characteristics  of  play,  however,  we  find  the  greatest 
disparity  between  the  two  groups. 

I.  The  difference  in  complexity  is  very  great. 
Characteflr^        2.  "Sensory  elements,"   "rhythm,"  "mimicry,"  "dra- 
^jgg  matic  representation,"  "skill,"  "the  practical  judgment," 

"individual  competition,"  are  the  characteristics  which  stand 
out  with  great  emphasis  in  the  study  of  the  phylogenetic  group,  and  these 
qualities  are  strongly  characteristic  of  the  civilized  children,  in  the  years 
from  approximately  seven  to  thirteen  or  fourteen. 


72  PLAY   ACTIVITIES   OF   ADULT   SAVAGES   AND  CHILDREN 

3.  But  American  children  have  along  with  these  plays  many  others  in 
which  purely  intellectual  activity  is  the  attractive  element — guessing 
games,  charades,  puzzles,  geographical  games,  etc. — a  class  finding  no 
representation  whatever  among  the  tribes  here  studied.  The  intellectual 
elements  of  the  savage  play  correspond  much  more  nearly  to  those  of  Ameri- 
can children  from  six  to  ten  years  of  age ;  yet  civilized  children  younger  than 
that  enjoy  simple  intellectual  plays.  That  this  difiference  in  types  extends 
farther  than  mere  play,  that  it  is  a  real  and  not  apparent  attitude  of  mind, 
may  be  shown,  perhaps,  by  one  or  two  brief  character  sketches,  introduced 
as  supplementary  evidence.  The  first  is  from  the  pen  of  Commodore 
Peary,  whose  long  familiarity  with  the  Eskimos  makes  his  opinion  particu- 
larly valuable.     He  says: 

Through  all  this  laborious  work,  my  happy,  child-like  crew  was  a  constant 
source  of  interest  to  me.  During  the  first  two  days  of  the  voyage,  they  had  been 
very  quiet  ....  but  now,  well  within  the  limits  of  "Ikaresxingwah"  (Whale 
Sound),  and  hugging  the  shore  within  a  boat's  length,  they  were  garrulous  as  so 
many  sparrows.  The  regular  stroke  of  the  oars  seemed  an  incentive  to  continuous 
chatter.  Spicy  gossip  of  the  tribe,  the  wonderful  ship,  incidents  of  our  voyage, 
speculations  as  to  my  plans,  apostrophes  to  the  waves,  the  sky,  the  birds — an 
incessant  stream.  Never  did  an  inquisitive  burgomaster  gull  stoop  with  wide  white 
wings  to  inspect  the  boat  but  what  he  was  chaffed  and  derided;  not  a  flock  of 
bustling  little  auks  whirred  past  but  they  were  followed  by  encouraging  words 
equivalent  to  "Go  it,  Uttle  ones,"  "That's  right,"  "You'll  get  there";  and  the 
sight  of  a  seal's  glistening  black  head  emerging  from  the  water  would  be  the  signal 
for  a  volley  of  Takul  Takul  Taku-u-ul  ("Look")  Puissel  in  inimitable  accents, 
and  as  much  excitement  as  if  it  was  the  first  seal  of  their  lives.  Yet  at  a  word  of 
caution  from  me  the  noise  would  cease,  the  broad  backs  strain  and  sway  till  the 
oars  bent  like  whalebone,  and  the  boat  forged  slowly  through  the  boiling  tide-rip 
round  a  projecting  point.'*^ 

The  second  quotation  is  from  Rasmussen,  who,  having  spent  his  boy- 
hood among  the  Eskimos,  and  who  being  familiar  with  their  language, 
understands  them,  perhaps,  as  well  as  any  white  man  living. 

When  the  young  Eskimo  grows  into  a  man — and  that  happens  the  day  it 
dawns  upon  him  that  his  childish  play  can  be  taken  in  earnest;  that  he  might 
just  as  well  close  upon  a  real  bear  as  with  the  carved  blocks  of  ice  he  used  to  play 
with;  that  he  might  just  as  well  steal  up  to  a  real  seal  as  to  a  make-believe  one — 
he  is  filled  with  only  one  desire:  to  be  equal  to  the  others,  the  best  of  them;  and 
this  becomes  his  life  ambition.  All  his  thoughts  are  thus  centered  on  himting 
expeditions,  seal-catching,  fishing,  food.  Beyond  this,  thought  is  as  a  rule 
associated  with  care. 

Once  out  hunting,  I  asked  an  Eskimo,  who  seemed  to  be  plunged  in  reflection, 
"What  are  you  standing  there  thinking  about?"     He  laughed  at  my  question, 


COMPARISON  OF  SAVAGE  PLAY  WITH  CHILDREN'S  PLAY  73 

and  said:  "Oh !  it  is  only  you  white  men  who  go  in  so  much  for  thinking;  up  here 
we  only  think  of  our  flesh-pits  and  of  whether  we  have  enough  or  not  for  the  long 
dark  of  the  winter.  If  we  have  meat  enough  then  there  is  no  need  to  think.  I 
have  meat  and  to  spare!"  I  saw  that  I  had  insulted  him  by  crediting  him  with 
thought. 

On  another  occasion  I  asked  an  unusually  intelligent  Eskimo,  Panigpak,  who 
had  taken  part  in  Peary's  last  North  Polar  Expedition  [1898-1902], 

"Tell  me,  what  do  you  suppose  was  the  object  of  all  your  exertions  ?  What 
did  you  think  when  you  saw  the  land  disappear  behind  you,  and  you  found  yourself 
out  on  drifting  ice-floes  ?" 

"Think?"  said  Panigpak,  astonished,  "I  did  not  need  to  think.  Peary  did 
that!" 

During  the  year  I  spent  with  the  Polar  Eskimos,  there  was  comfort  and 
plenty  everywhere,  and,  so  far  as  I  could  ascertain,  this  was  the  usual  state  of 
affairs.  Thus  what  they  ask  of  life  they  receive,  and  their  requirements  being 
satisfied,  an  irresponsible  happiness  at  merely  being  alive  finds  expression  in  their 
actions  and  conversation.  They  have  all  sorts  of  sudden  impulses,  and  are  free 
to  follow  them  up  unchecked.  They  are  now  here,  now  there,  incalculable  in 
their  whims,  now  on  dangerous  and  arduous  hunting  or  sealing  expeditions, 
now  at  jovial  entertainments,  and  are  touchingly  grateful  for  a  jest  or  joke.** 


vn 

CONCLUSIONS 

1,  In  view  of  the  facts  herein  presented,  regarding  play  activities,  we 
conclude,  then,  that  although  a  similarity  certainly  exists  between  the  play 
Wifh  "Ri^Hnprf  ^/^^  child  race  and  of  the  child  individual,  especially  with 
jq  respect  to  somatic  characteristics,  yet  a  process  of  differentiation 
Parallelism     has  been  going  on  throughout  the  cultural  period  which  has 

profoundly  modified  not  only  the  final  product,  i.e.,  the  product 
found  in  civili  zation,  but  also  all  the  intervening  stages.  It  is  our  belief  that 
this  differentiation  is  shown,  to  a  slight  extent,  in  the  physical  organism  itself, 
so  that  the  physical  body  of  the  highest  type  found  in  civilization  is  somewhat 
more  sensitive  to  stimulation  than  is  the  body  of  the  highest  type  of  savage. 
This  opinion  is  not  based,  however,  entirely  upon  tlie  study  of  play,  but 
partly  upon  a  supplementary  study  on  '^Somatic  Characteristics.^^ 

The  chief  difference  appears,  however,  in  the  intellectual  aspects  of  their 
amusements,  and  is  a  difference  not  of  kind  but  of  proportions,  or  we  may  say 
a  difference  of  emphasis.  Thus  we  find  in  the  play  of  our  non-civilized 
group  somatic  activities  and  emotional  intensity  characterizing  civilized 
children  and  youth  between  the  ages  of  six  and  twenty-three,  a  form  of 
organization  more  nearly  corresponding  to  the  period  from  six  to  twelve  or 
thirteen,  and  purely  intellectual  play  somewhat  comparable  to  that  of  civi- 
lized children  from  six  to  eleven  years  old,  i.e.,  the  time  when  sponta- 
neous imitation,  and  dramatization  of  social  activities,  maintains  its  highest 
interest,  and  when  skill  for  its  own  sake  and  rivalry  are  the  compelling 
motives  in  play.  The  studies  on  the  ordeal,  courtship,  and  religious  plays 
are  confirmatory  of  this  view.  The  attitude  of  mind  therein  disclosed  is 
the  attitude  of  the  child  mind,  not  that  of  the  civilized  adult. 

2.  But  the  difference  of  proportions  above  referred  to  is  not  acquired 
in  any  given  individual  by  living  the  life  of  a  savage  until  the  limit  of  his 
development  is  reached,  then  adding  to  that  product  something  more,  which 
extends  development  in  ontogenesis  to  the  point  reached  in  civilization. 
The  differentiation  in  parallelism  is  much  more  fundamental,  reaching  back 
to  the  beginnings  of  psychical  life,  and  probably  far  back  into  the  physical 
organism  itself. 

The  theory  of  psychical  evolution  thus  presented,  namely  that  while  in 
any  given  period  of  ontogenetic  development  the  psychology  of  children's 
play  resembles,  in  certain  respects,  the  psychology  of  savage  play,  yet  at  no 

74 


CONCLUSIONS  75 

point  is  like  it,  seems  to  us  so  entirely  in  accord  with  a  recent  statement  of 
theory  regarding  somatic  embryonic  evolution,^^  that  we  cannot  forbear  to 
quote  the  statement  at  length.     Professor  Lillie  says: 

Haeckel's  formula,  that  the  development  of  the  individual  repeats  briefly  the 
evolution  of  the  species,  or  that  ontogeny  is  a  brief  recapitulation  of  phylogeny, 
has  been  widely  accepted  by  embryologists.  It  is  based  on  a  comparison  between 
the  embryonic  development  of  the  individual  and  the  comparative  anatomy  of  the 
phylum.  The  embryonic  conditions  of  any  set  of  organs  of  a  higher  species  of  a 
phylum  resemble,  in  many  essential  particulars,  conditions  that  are  adult  in  lower 
species  of  the  same  phylum;  and,  moreover,  the  order  of  embryonic  development 
of  organs  corresponds  in  general  to  the  taxonomic  order  of  organization  of  the 
same  organs.  As  the  taxonomic  order  is  the  order  of  evolution,  Haeckel's  generali- 
zation, which  he  called  the  fundamental  law  of  biogenesis,  would  appear  to 
follow  of  necessity. 

But  it  never  happens  that  the  embryo  of  any  definite  species  resembles  in  its 
entirety  the  adult  of  a  lower  species,  nor  even  the  embryo  of  a  lower  species;  its 
organization  is  specific  at  all  stages  from  the  ovum  on,  so  that  it  is  possible  without 
any  difficulty  to  recognize  the  order  of  animals  to  which  a  given  embryo  belongs, 
and  more  careful  examination  will  usually  enable  one  to  assign  its  zoological 
position  very  closely. 

If  phylogeny  be  understood  to  be  the  succession  of  adult  forms  in  the  line  of 
evolution,  it  cannot  be  said  in  any  real  sense  that  ontogeny  is  a  brief  recapitulation 
of  phylogeny,  for  the  embryo  of  a  higher  form  is  never  like  the  adult  of  a  lower 
form,  though  the  anatomy  of  embryonic  organs  of  higher  species  resembles  in  many 
particulars  the  anatomy  of  homologous  organs  of  the  adult  of  the  lower  species. 
However,  if  we  conceive  that  the  whole  life  history  is  necessary  for  the  definition 
of  a  species,  we  obtain  a  different  basis  for  the  recapitulation  theory.  The  com- 
parable units  are  then  entire  ontogenies,  and  these  resemble  one  another  in 
proportion  to  the  nearness  of  relationship,  just  as  the  definitive  structures  do. 
The  ontogeny  is  inherited  no  less  than  the  adult  characteristics,  and  is  subject  to 
precisely  the  same  laws  of  modification  and  variation.  Thus  in  nearly  related 
species  the  ontogenies  are  very  similar;  in  more  distantiy  related  species  there  is 
less  resemblance,  and  in  species  from  different  classes  the  ontogenies  are  widely 
divergent  in  many  respects. 

In  species  of  lower  grades  of  organization  the  ontogenetic  series  is  a  shorter 
one  than  in  species  of  higher  grades,  so  that  the  final  stages  of  the  organs  of  a 
lower  species  become  intermediate  or  embryonic  stages  in  species  of  higher  rank. 
But  the  stage  of  the  lower  species  does  not  appear  in  all  the  organs  of  the  higher 
species  simultaneously.  Thus  the  fish  never  exhibits  the  grade  of  organization 
of  a  fish  throughout;  while  its  pharjmx,  for  instance,  is  in  a  fish-like  condition 
with  reference  to  arches  and  clefts,  the  nervous  system  is  relatively  undifferenti- 
ated, and  it  has  no  vertebrae;  on  the  other  hand,  it  has  a  heart  of  an  amphibian 
rather  than  of  a  fish  type. 


76  PLAY  ACTIVITIES  OF  ADULT  SAVAGES  AND  CHILDREN 

Some  of  these  considerations  may  be  represented  graphically  as  follows:  let 
VIS  take  a  species  D  that  has  an  ontogeny  A,  B,  C,  D,  and  suppose  that  this  species 
evolves  successively  into  species  E,  F,  G,  H,  etc.  When  evolution  has  progressed 
a  step,  to  E,  the  characters  of  the  species  established  develop  directly  from  the 
ovum,  and  are  therefore,  in  some  way,  involved  in  the  composition  of  the  latter. 
All  of  the  stages  of  the  ontogeny  leading  up  to  E  are  modified,  and  we  can  indi- 
cate this  in  the  ontogeny  of  E  as  in  line  2: 

1.  ABCD 

2.  A'  B'  C'  D'  E 

3.  A»  B2  C»  D^  E'  F 

4.  A3  B3  C3  D3  E"  F'  G 

5.  A4  B4  C4  D4  E3  F2  Gi  H 

Similarly,  when  evolution^has  progressed  to  species  F,  seeing  that  the  characters 
of  F  now  develop  directiy  from  the  ovum,  all  the  ontogenetic  stages  leading  up  to 
F  are  modified,  line  3.  And  so  on  for  each  successive  advance  in  evolution, 
lines  4  and  5.  It  will  also  be  noticed  that  the  terminal  stage  D  of  species  i 
becomes  a  successively  earlier  ontogenetic  stage  of  species  2,  3,  4,  5,  etc.,  and 
moreover,  it  does  not  recur  in  its  pure  form,  but  in  the  form  D'  in  species  2,  D' 
in  species  3,  etc.  Now  if  the  last  five  stages  of  the  ontogeny  of  species  5  be 
examined,  viz.,  D*  E3  F*  G'  H,  it  will  be  seen  that  they  repeat  the  phylogeny  of 
the  adult  stages  D  E  F  G  H,  but  in  a  modified  form. 

This  is  in  fact  what  the  diagram  shows;  but  it  is  an  essential  defect  of  the 
diagram,  that  it  is  incapable  of  showing  the  character  of  the  modifications  of  the 
ancestral  conditions.  Not  only  is  each  stage  of  the  ancestral  ontogenies  modi- 
fied with  each  phylogenetic  advance,  but  the  elements  of  organization  of  the 
ancestral  stages  are  also  dispersed  so  that  no  ancestral  stage  hangs  together  as  a 
unit.  The  embryonic  stages  show  as  much  proportional  modification  in  the 
course  of  evolution  as  the  adult,  but  this  is  not  so  obvious  owing  to  the  simpler  and 
more  generalized  character  of  the  embryonic  stages. 

In  the  acceptation  of  the  foreoing  conclusions  regarding  the  comparative 
play  characteristics  of  savage  adults  and  civilized  children  it  must  be  kept 
in  mind,  that: 

1.  We  are  not  discussing  the  development  of  the  above-named  groups 
as  a  whole,  but  only  that  phase  which  represents  the  spontaneous,  recreative 
side  of  life.  The  suggestion  is  indeed  strong,  that  the  characteristics  here 
found  extend  much  farther  than  to  mere  play  activities,  but  final  conclusions 
relating  to  psychical  phenomena  other  than  play  impulses  must  await  the 
completion  of  supplementary  studies. 

2.  We  are  not  discussing  what  the  members  of  our  fivefold  groups  are 
capable  of  playing,  but  what  they  play.  Whether  the  same  tribes  reared 
under  exactly  the  same  conditions  as  civilized  children  would  have  developed 
exactly  the  same  capacities  and  inclinations  as  the  latter  class  is  an  entirely 


CONCLUSIONS  77 

different  question,  and  one  not  even  touched  in  this  discussion.  The 
question  suggests  an  inviting  field  of  experimental  research,  but  surely  it  is  of 
some  value  to  know  these  people  as  they  are,  not  only  for  those  who  propose 
to  make  their  life  work  among  peoples  little  civilized,  either  as  teachers  or 
as  missionaries,  but  for  a  nation  which  has  already  put  itself  on  record  as  a 
champion  of  weaker  races.  What  a  splendid  tool  for  education  might  all 
of  these  find  in  the  much-loved  drama  of  the  savage ! 

3.  The  conclusions  here  expressed  as  to  tastes  and  inclinations  in  play 
must  not  be  construed  as  applying  to  all  savage  tribes.  The  study  is  pur- 
posely confined  to  some  of  the  lowest  in  development. 

Reviewing,  now,  the  various  lines  of  thought  by  which  the  end  of  our 
discussion  has  been  reached,  we  are  confronted  at  length  by  the  questions. 
What  is  play  ?    What  is  its  genesis  ? 
1     itespect        jj  jg  ^^^  Q^j.  puj^Qgg  hgj-g  iQ  present  again  the  various 

pi_„  theories  already  before  the  public.     Spencer's  theory  that 

play  is  due  to  an  excess  of  energy  in  unused  brain  centers, 
which  discharges  itself  in  play  activities,  is  true  to  the  extent  that  energy  is 
certainly  present  and  expended  during  such  activity;  but  why  "excess"  of 
energy  ? 

The  theory  of  Groos  that  play  activities  are  anticipatory  (i.e.,  a  drill  or 
training  for  adult  life)  has  certainly  so  much  of  truth  as  this — play  does  so 
train.  But  why  does  the  child  in  his  ignorance  of  adult  needs  react  in 
just  those  ways  which  do  thus  train  him  ?  The  explanation  needs  itself  to 
be  explained. 

And  lastly  we  have  the  theory  of  Dr.  G.  Stanley  Hall  that  the  child 
recapitulates  psychical  interests  and  activities  of  the  race,  as  well  as  physical 
structure,  through  inheritance.  Something  certainly  is  inherited,  or  there 
would  be  no  child  to  play;  but  if  the  child's  psychical  interests  develop  in 
the  order  in  which  the  race  developed  them,  why  does  he  take  pleasure  in  the 
whistle  of  his  toy  engine  long  before  he  begs  for  bow  and  arrow  or  fishing 
rod? 

Without  denying  a  portion  of  truth  to  all  these  theories,  we  venture  to 
suggest  a  fourth,  which  possibly  may  be  allowed  a  place  beside  the  other 
three — a  theory  which  may  perhaps  be  called 

THE   BIOLOGICAL  THEORY  OF   PLAY 

Does  not  the  growing  body  itself  provide  its  own  best  explanation  of  the 
fact  of  play?  (i)  Sensitivity  to  stimulation,  and  (2)  power  of  reaction  to 
stimulation  seem  to  characterize  all  forms  of  living  matter.     But  the  structure 


78  PLAY  ACTIVITIES  OF  ADULT  SAVAGES  AND  CHILDREN 

of  the  body  places  limitations  upon  the  kind  of  reaction  which  it  is  possible 
to  make.  A  kitten  cannot  react  to  a  pool  of  water  as  the  fish  does,  nor  can 
the  fish  take  on  the  reactions  of  the  kitten.  From  the  standpoint  of  both  fish 
and  kitten,  such  a  procedure  would  be  as  undesirable  as  it  is  impossible. 
Both  animals  react  as  did  their  ancestors,  because  limitations  of  bone, 
muscle,  tendons,  nerves,  and  vital  organs  necessitate  their  acting,  if  they  act  at 
all,  in  just  those  ways  and  in  no  others.  Just  so  the  child  being  built  upon  the 
same  general  plan  as  were  his  ancestors  must  of  necessity  use  the  same 
muscles  and  organs  and  in  about  the  same  way,  and  in  so  doing  both 
recapitulates  his  phylogenetic  inheritance  and  anticipates  his  ontogenetic 
future  in  those  plays  which  have  been  called  "instinctive,"  and  which  are 
especially  typical  of  infancy  and  early  childhood.  All  that  is  needed  then 
to  account  for  '^instinctive^'  play  is  the  impulse  to  act,  and  this  he  has  at 
birth,  endowed  as  he  is  with  sensitivity  to  stimulation.  For  the  rest,  the 
child's  environment,  both  physical  and  social,  pours  in  upon  his  sensorium 
a  constant  stream  of  stimulation,  suggesting  the  particular  act  of  the  imme- 
diate present.  But  the  type  of  the  activity  is  determined  by  the  stage  of 
development  which  the  growing  body  has  reached.  With  the  infant,  the 
head  and  arm  muscles,  being  strongest,  control  the  somatic  type  of  play, 
together  with  the  developing  sense-organs  of  the  nervous  system  and  the 
brain.  Sensations,  coming  through  the  sheen  of  light,  the  shake  of  the 
rattle,  the  throwing  of  the  ball,  are  his  mental  toys  and  his  delight.  Later, 
when  stronger  muscles  co-operate  in  stronger  and  more  complex  move- 
ments and  when  further  brain  development  makes  perception  and  apper- 
ception possible,  activity  of  the  whole  body  is  the  somatic  type,  while 
mentally  imagination,  volition,  and  imitation  become  his  toys.  And  so  we 
hear,  "Tell  me  a  story,"  and  see,  a  little  later,  the  story  epitomized  in 
dramatic  representation. 

Meanwhile,  the  brain  having  reached  nearly  its  full  size,  a  period  of 
slower  brain  growth  follows,  and  bones,  muscles,  and  lungs  take  their 
turn  at  rapid  growth.  Just  now  comes  in  the  period  of  "running  games," 
"tag,"  "hunting  games,"  etc.,  with  rivalry  and  skill  as  toys,  only  to  be 
followed  by  "contest"  games  and  co-operative  groups,  necessitating 
adjustment  of  means  to  ends,  at  just  that  period  of  life  when  tangential 
fibers  uniting  the  various  centers  of  the  brain  are  developing  most  rapidly, 
and  all  the  organs  of  the  body  are  maturing. 

Why  does  the  desire  for  this  violent  exercise  pass  away  as  the  body 
ceases  growing,  and  why  do  intellectual  and  business  occupations  gradually 
become,  not  merely  necessary,  but  really  more  congenial?  May  we  not 
safely  assume  that  in  the  normal,  well-ordered  life  the  brain  continues  to 


CONCLUSIONS  79 

develop  in  histological  structure  long  after  somatic  growth  has  ceased,  and 
that  with  the  increasing  complexity  of  brain  structure,  not  acts,  but  the 
relations  of  acts,  the  abstract  reasoning,  the  constructive  imagination  become 
the  toy  of  the  adult,  as  sensation,  perception,  skill,  conquest,  and  co-opera- 
tion for  distant  ends  have  been  in  the  past  ?  Is  it  not  significant  that  what- 
ever the  type  of  play  may  be,  it  just  keeps  pace  with  the  type  of  somatic 
growth  ?  And  does  not  the  impulse  to  exercise  these  growing  parts  furnish 
all  the  explanation  that  is  needed  for  the  existence  of  the  play  activity  ? 

But  why  the  impulse  to  exercise  the  growing  organs  ? 

The  tissues  grow  by  means  of  chemical  elements  brought  to  them  by  the 
blood.  The  more  rapid  the  heart  beat  the  more  rapid  the  circulation  of 
blood  and  therefore  the  greater  the  food  supply  brought  to  the  tissues.  It 
is  an  interesting  fact  that  even  the  normal  heart  beat  is  quicker  in  the  grow- 
ing child  than  in  the  adult.  Possibly  it  is  because  of  the  greater  demand  of 
the  tissues  in  the  growing  child  that  this  is  so ;  and  tissue-demand-for-more- 
food  {tissue  hunger,  if  we  will)  may  be  only  another  name  for  play  impulse. 
The  child  does  not  understand  why  he  likes  to  run  better  than  to  sit  still 
any  more  than  he  understands  why  he  likes  to  stretch  himself  after  he  has 
slept  so  soundly  that  the  heart  has  slowed  its  beat  and  the  brain  has  ceased 
functioning.  But  the  stretch  of  the  muscles  quickens  the  heart  beat  once 
more,  the  yawn  brings  oxygen  to  the  lungs,  and  soon  the  drowsy  brain,  sup- 
plied with  better  food,  is  functioning  again. 

Just  so  in  playing  tag,  the  child  is  quickening  the  circulation  of  the 
blood  and  feeding  bone  and  lungs  and  tissues  with  chemical  elements 
necessary  for  their  growth.  He  feels  only  the  impulse  to  do,  to  move,  to 
fidget.  If  opportunity  for  play  be  denied,  the  impulse  remains  still,  and 
frequently  expends  itself  in  mischief  or  "incorrigibility,"  but  if  all  exercise 
be  denied,  then  the  growing  tissues  must  suffer  the  unavoidable  con- 
sequences of  partial  starvation.  Back  of  psychological  impulses  are  physio- 
logical functions;  back  of  physiological  functions  are  histological  changes; 
and  back  of  histological  changes  are  chemical  attractions  and  repulsions. 

With  respect  to  'traditional'^  games,  we  have  already  anticipated  the 
theory,  namely  that  they  have  their  genesis  in  experience — somebody's 
experience — and  that  they  are  handed  down  from  generation  to  generation. 
As  the  dramatic  element  of  the  original  play  drops  out  and  is  forgotten,  it 
gradually  becomes  conventionalized  into  a  game  of  skill.  The  more  varied 
the  history  of  the  people  the  more  experiences,  and  hence  the  more  traditions 
to  be  handed  down. 

But  this  conclusion  with  respect  to  play,  both  instinctive  and  traditional, 
brings  us  face  to  face  with  a  larger  question  still.     Play  is  an  instinct.     Is 


8o  PLAY  ACTIVITIES  OF  ADULT  SAVAGES  AND  CHILDREN 

instinct,  then,  due  only  to  chemical  attraction,  tissue  hunger,  structure, 
stimulation,  imitation,  and  tradition? 

If  this  be  true,  then  instinct  is  but  another  name  for  hunger.  If  this  be  true, 
then  instinct  is  post-natal  as  well  as  pre-natal.  It  is  constructive,  not  passive. 
It  is  determinative,  not  determined.  It  is  dynamic,  not  static.  It  is  volitional 
as  well  as  reflex,  and  the  controversy  as  to  whether  instinct  is  "relapsed 
volitional  action,"  or  whether  it  is  purely  "reflex"  is  forever  brushed  aside. 
It  is  both;  it  is  neither. 

The  pedagogical  inferences  from  our  study  of  play  are  so  apparent  as 

hardly  to  need  the  emphasis  of  repetition. 

I.  Any  system  of  education  which  leaves  out  of  account 
With 
Rpsnpct  to        *^^  "hungers"  of  the  child,  both  physical  and  psychical, 

PedaffOffical     leaves  also  out  of  account  his  whole  development. 
Applications  2.  The  play  hunger  is  but  one  of  many.    The  greater  the 

variety  of  normal  hungers,  the  more  developed  the  child. 
But  the  type  of  hungers,  not  the  number  of  his  years,  indicates  the  extent  of 
his  development.  True,  mind  and  body  alike  maybe  starved  or  over-stimu- 
lated, until  they  are  unbalanced  or  until  they  cease  to  function  normally,  but 
these  are  pathological  cases  and  do  not  fall  within  the  scope  of  this  discussion. 

3.  Some  of  these  normal  hungers  are  indicated  in  the  analysis  of  chil- 
dren's play — hunger  for  exercise,  for  social  appreciation,  imitation,  organi- 
zation, sensation,  rhythm,  self -training,  competition,  co-operation,  fun, 
intellectual  activity,  companionship,  and  religion — all  these,  and  others 
which  may  be  determined,  are  the  impelling  forces  by  which  development 
will  be  accomplished  and  personality  and  character  shaped. 

4.  These  cravings  are  more  than  mere  incidental  likes  and  dislikes. 
They  indicate  the  degree  of  health  and  growth  which  mind  and  body  have 
attained. 

5.  A  hunger  unsatisfied,  over-stimulated,  perverted,  or  fed  upon  in- 
jurious food  can  only  result  in  arrest  of  development. 

6.  The  duty  of  pedagogy  is  to  place  before  the  hungry  pupil  food 
suited  to  the  normal  appetite.  Not  one  of  the  ingredients  named  above 
can  be  omitted  from  the  menu.  For  the  abnormal  appetite  specialists  are 
needed  who  can  give  each  case  as  careful  consideration  as  does  the  skilled 
physician  to  his  patients. 

7.  The  proportions  in  which  the  ingredients  of  mental  diet  should  be 
mixed  must  change  with  changing  development.  The  proportions  which 
normal  children  use  themselves  when  strongly  interested  will  be  the  teacher's 
best  guide. 

8.  The  study  of  less-developed  types  of  humanity,  both  civilized  and 


CONCLUSIONS  8l 

non-civilized,  will  be  an  invaluable  aid  to  the  teacher,  not  only  in  quickening 
his  own  sympathy  and  capability  of  helpful  service  to  society  in  general, 
but  in  placing  at  his  command  a  vast  fund  of  knowledge  and  of  facts  which 
may  be  made  directly  useful  for  instruction.  To  understand  the  part  which 
instinct  has  played  in  the  promotion  of  civilization,  the  process  by  which 
impulsive,  objective  acts  have  become  subjective,  abstract,  social,  altruistic, 
is  to  know  how  to  direct  the  child's  longings  so  as  to  create  a  further  hunger 
for  worthy,  progressive,  heroic  living,  rather  than  for  satisfaction  in  mean 
and  sordid  aims. 

9.  That  children's  stories,  poems,  and  songs,  the  type  of  pictures  they 
make,  their  emotions,  their  attitude  toward  punishment,  authority,  and 
law,  their  critical  judgment,  their  belief  in  charms,  their  ideals,  and  even 
their  plays  are  subject  to  laws  which  apply  alike  to  the  Bushman,  the 
Chinese,  and  the  American  is  just  as  surely  established  as  is  the  fact  that 
the  periods  of  slow  and  rapid  physical  growth  and  the  changing  proportions 
of  the  body  are  subject  to  law.  The  pedagogy  of  the  future  must  be  based 
upon  these  laws. 

Some  of  a  child's  deeds  are  symptoms  of  a  waning  tendency;  they  are  survivals 
in  functioning  of  an  organ  which  has  done  its  part  and  is  passing  out  of  vital  use. 
To  give  positive  attention  to  such  qualities  is  to  arrest  development  upon  a  lower 
level.  It  is  systematically  to  maintain  a  rudimentary  phase  of  growth.  Other 
activities  are  signs  of  a  culminating  power  and  interest;  to  them  applies  the 
maxim  of  striking  while  the  iron  is  hot.  As  regards  them  it  is,  perhaps,  a  matter 
of  now  or  never.  Selected,  utilized,  emphasized,  they  may  mark  a  turning-point 
for  good  in  the  child's  whole  career.  Neglected,  an  opportunity  goes  never  to  be 
recalled.  Other  acts  and  feelings  are  prophetic;  they  represent  the  dawning  of  a 
flickering  light  that  will  shine  steadily  only  in  the  far  future.  As  regards  them 
there  is  Uttle  at  present  to  do  but  give  them  fair  and  full  chance,  waiting  for  the 
future  for  definite  direction. ^s 

10.  The  Culture  Epoch  Theory  is,  perhaps,  the  first  really  scientific 
effort  to  take  advantage  of  race  experience  for  the  benefit  of  the  child;  but 
its  followers  have  sometimes  erred  in  that  they  have  confused  the  type  of  the 
reaction  with  the  conditions  which  stimulate  reaction,  and  have  thought  to 
secure  the  .benefits  of  race  experience  by  introducing  the  child  into  the 
specific  activities  of  the  primitive  peoples  or  into  a  similar  environment. 
To  take  this  view  is  certainly  to  seize  upon  the  husk  and  throw  away  the 
kernel.  It  is  not  the  thing  done,  but  the  way  it  is  done  that  is  significant. 
The  psychology  of  the  reaction  is  the  all-important  thing,  and  we  shall  find 
that  the  psychology  of  the  reaction  takes  on  a  different  type  as  we  rise  in  the 
developmental  series.     In  whatever  direction  the  mind  expresses  itself,  the 


82  PLAY  ACTIVITIES  OF  ADULT  SAVAGES  AND  CHILDREN 

act  will  take  on  that  type  belonging  to  its  specific  period  of  development. 
Thus  if  it  be  the  period  when  the  sensori-motor  type  predominates,  not 
only  will  the  play  be  of  that  type,  but  literature,  art,  religion.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  many  of  the  games  and  dances  are  religious  in  character,  but  it  is 
religion  expressed  in  terms  of  muscle,  rather  than  in  passive  forms  of 
abstract  philosophy.  And  this  is  as  it  should  be.  Religious  and  moral 
ideas,  dissociated  from  muscular  expression,  become  hypocrisy.  Many 
a  mission  field  bears  witness  to  the  failure  of  attempting  to  force  a  subjective 
type  of  religion  upon  a  sensori-motor  type  of  mind;  yet  in  educational 
matters  the  mission  schools  have  been  wise  beyond  their  age  in  laying  much 
stress  upon  the  industrial,  that  is,  the  motor  phase. 

11.  Thus  with  both  child  and  race,  the  all-important  thing  for  both 
parent  and  instructor  is  to  learn  to  know  the  type.  If  we  study  carefully 
the  actual  activities  of  these  lowest  tribes  and  the  activities  of  civilized 
children  we  find  very  little  in  common  between  them  except  these  types, 
these  changing  mental  attitudes  which  manifest  themselves  in  all  the  rela- 
tions of  life.  It  is  not  a  hunting  instinct,  as  some  have  supposed, 
which  the  child  inherits,  but  a  hunger  instinct — hunger  for  food  and 
hunger  for  sensation.  Whatever  satisfies  that  appetite  will  call  forth 
the  typical  reaction  just  as  quickly,  whether  the  stimulus  belongs  to  modem 
life  or  to  primitive  conditions.  So  it  is  not  the  migratory  instinct  but  the 
motor  instinct  which  impels  the  child  to  wander  into  the  woods  or  snowball 
his  playmates  with  equal  zest.  It  is  not  because  a  myth  is  a  myth  that  the 
children  listen  to  the  narrator  with  such  rapt  attention,  but  because  it  is 
objective,  striking,  full  of  visual  imagery,  dramatic,  the  characters  few,  the 
relations  simple,  the  forms  of  thought  concrete,  dealing  little  with  subjective, 
abstract  themes.  But  any  other  story  which  has  these  same  characteristics, 
that  is,  the  same  type,  will  hold  attention  equally  well. 

12.  The  value  of  the  study  of  the  culture  epochs,  then,  is  primarily  for 
the  teacher,  not  for  the  child,  because  in  them  are  found  supplementary 
studies  of  mental  types,  each  one  of  which  will  throw  some  light  upon  the 
diagnosis  of  the  special  case  in  hand.  To  understand  the  race  is  to  better 
understand  the  child. 

13.  Do  the  culture  epochs,  then,  yield  no  direct  products  for  the  pupil, 
as  well  as  for  the  teacher  ? 

The  world  is  the  child's;  its  people  his  people;  its  interests  his  interests. 
No  mind  is  "cultured"  which  does  not  acknowledge  its  debt  to  the  mind  of 
the  primitive  folk.  No  education  is  "broad"  which  does  not  recognize  the 
skill  and  patience  and  beauty  of  the  primitive  industries  and  products.  To 
bring  a  knowledge  of  these  and  a  sympathetic  interest  therewith  into  the 


CONCLUSIONS  83 

child's  life,  it  is  necessary  to  bring  the  specific  products  of  the  culture  epochs 
corresponding  most  nearly  to  his  own,  into  the  realm  of  formal  instruction. 
But  to  do  this  intelligently,  it  is  necessary  that  the  teacher  add  to  his  knowl- 
edge of  genetic  pedagogy  a  genetic  anthropology;  to  his  genetic  psychology 
a  genetic  somatology,  and  for  a  curriculum  based  upon  textbooks  and 
years  of  school  attendance,  must  be  substituted  one  based  upon  types  of 
DEVELOPMENT,  including  both  Mind  and  Body. 


VIII 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

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Many  minor  articles  have  been  omitted,  the  aim  of  the  author  being  to  include 
only  such  as  possessed  intrinsic  value.    We  regret  that  Seligmann's  exhaustive 
study  of  the  Veddahs  has  not  yet  appeared  in  print. 
Astrup,   Edwind.     "In  the  Land  of  the  Northernmost  Eskimos,"  Fortnighily 

Review,  LXV,  N.S.    London,    [i] 
Avebury,  Lord  (Sir  John  Lubbock).    Prehistoric  Times,  as  Illustrated  by  Ancient 

Remains  and  the  Manners  and  Customs  of  Modern  Savages.    5th  ed.    Lon- 
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